Fat & Juicy: A Kind of Wolf of Wall Street
Leonardo DiCaprio playing Jordan Belfort in the "Wolf of Wallstreet" film
“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power. ”
This past summer I decided to watch the movie “Wolf of Wall Street,” not really knowing what it would be about. You’ll have to watch it to see what I mean, but it’s a wonder that Jordan Belfort is still alive. With all the Quaaludes, sex, money, and frivolous things that he did. Oftentimes God will let us fall victim to our lustful desires. He’ll allow us to have all the immoral sex we want; He’ll allow us to indulge and swim in all the luxurious worldly material things that money can buy, as well as allow us to misuse power to get anything that we want. He’ll let us get so far gone from Him, and one day we’ll meet the nastiness of our sin face to face, just like the Israelites did in the book of Judges:
“In His anger against Israel the Lord gave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist.”
How can God save someone from the consequences of their willful sin? What can a parent do when a child willingly wants to do wrong? Who can we blame if the doctor comes in and diagnoses us with a venereal disease, or the judge sentences us to hard time for breaking a law, or we’re so far in debt because of lack of self-control? We can only blame ourselves. Sometimes you have to let people go and let the world teach them a lesson. “Chickens will come home to roost”- another Wolf of Wallstreet reference ;)
Why does God sometime allow us to have our sinful desires? There’s something in letting a person get what he or she truly desires, even if it’s bad for them, and hopefully after some time they’ll open their eyes and see that what they wanted after all isn’t as awesome as they thought it would be.
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Some key verses:
“But my people would not listen to me; Israel would not submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.” –Psalm 81: 11-12
“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.” -Ephesians 2: 1-2
Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes; I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way. She will chase after her lovers but not catch them; she will look for them but not find them. Then she will say, ‘I will go back to my husband as at first, for then I was better off than now.’ –Hosea 2: 6-7
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It’s quite hard to separate power, sex, and money when all three are in a man’s hands. The real desires of a person’s heart will come out when he or she has 1 of the 3, 2 of the 3, or 3 of the 3 in their hands. The heart is the seat of your passion. What is in it will pour out of it. God knows the real nature of the human heart when it is not rooted in Him, and that’s why He sent His Son so that we don’t have to fall victim to the nastiness. But even if we fall victim to our sin, God’s grace and forgiveness will catch us if we truly repent.
When a person finally meets the nastiness of his or her sin he may have: HIV, AIDS, a venereal disease of some kind, a broken heart, has caused his or her family public shame, is in prison for breaking humanitarian or criminal laws, is in debt up to his or her eyeballs, battling allegations of misuse of funds, or is dead. Ultimately a man or woman is so broken and empty that they don’t even realize how they let themselves get so far gone.
God wants to spare us from getting so far gone in our fat and juicy sinful desires. But, the choice is ours.
The Apostle Paul speaks about how God will let us go to Satan in hopes that what Satan offers [HIV, heartache, pain, embarrassment from sin, a lack of peace in our souls] will lead us back to Christ. Although Paul was speaking in the context of a man who was sleeping with his father’s wife, this piece of Scripture fits: “hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 5: 5).
Let’s resolve now to live holy lives, and when the temptations that come with money and power arises, we will run far and fast from the things that could grab us and take us to place where we are so far gone from God’s loving, purpose filled, and guiding hand.
Happy Friday xx!