Lesson From the movie, The Forge

Dami, have you watched 'The Forge'? That was the question I got from my friend sometime ago. Well, well, well, I've seen the advert on TikTok, and it seems to be a nice movie, actually. So, I decided to watch it. Thirteen minutes into the movie, I had to bring out my phone to jot down some points.

I loved the role Mr. Moore played in Isaiah's life by becoming the masculine energy he needed to grow. One of the things he said that struck me was, 'Treat others the way you want to be treated, even if you don't like them.' The truth is, practicing this can be very difficult, but as Christians, Christ asks us to love and pray for our enemies, and I'm sure we all know this isn't an easy thing to do.

He also said that a bigger part of becoming a man is showing up. I would say that a bigger part of becoming an adult is showing up. This might sound easy, but it's not, because there are days when you just want to exist, but you always remember that you have work to attend to, children to care for, friends and family, and you just have to show up, regardless of how you're feeling.

Another thing he taught him is that he needs to be more of a fountain than a drain. Here, he is teaching him to be a giver rather than a receiver. Even the Bible says that the hand of the giver is always uppermost.

Another thing I learned is the need for Christian financial literacy. Being spiritual is not enough! I feel like screaming this right now. God did not call us to be poor as Christians; we have the opportunity to reach more lives if we are rich. Assuming Mr. Moore wasn't in that influential position, he wouldn't have been able to reach Isaiah. And to all the Christians in positions of power, you didn't get there just for yourself or your family members, but also as a tool to reach and influence men for God. He also said we should not be afraid of doing hard things, as long as they are worth it. 

When Isaiah's mother was discussing with her friends, she told them that 'it's hard for a woman to call out the man in her son.' This actually addresses the issue of dysfunctionality in families. For a child to get a balanced emotional, psychological, spiritual, and physical life, there is a need to have both parents, except in some exceptional cases. That's why I'm always pained when I see young people not taking the kind of partner they choose seriously, but focusing on the present without thinking about the future.

Mrs Clara said something so profound: 'You can't treat prayer like some spare tire, but like the wheel you have to hold on tightly every day.' The truth is, a lot of us actually treat prayer like a spare tire that we can always run to when we've run out of options, which is not supposed to be.

The most emotional part for me was when he was gifted the sword. There, he explained why, as Christians, we still need to be in community with brethren to help us when our faith is weak, brethren to join their faith with ours in prayer, because a one-man movement is an easy prey for the devil."