I just finished listening to the last book in The Hunger Games series. The overwhelming response from my family is that this book series was very sad and depressing. We understand that there’s violence and evil in the world. We understand that people are mistreated all the time. We understand that such things need to be addressed. We understand that books like these are useful in causing people to step back and look at the failings of our society right now. None of these things were the root cause of our sadness at the conclusion of listening to this series.
Our sadness is that Suzanne Collins, the author of The Hunger Games, either does not understand or chose not to mention how there is real hope in this evil world. It’s a hope that goes far beyond the attempts of man to set things right. If this is our only hope, we truly are perpetually doomed to live in the hopeless world described so graphically for us in The Hunger Games.
Our sure and certain hope lies in Jesus. As we put our Thumbs Up to Jesus, He gives us direction for decisions, meaning for our existence and hope that goes beyond death. No matter how evil man is and how many atrocities he concocts, he can not stop the love of Jesus. Man can not take away the forgiveness Jesus freely gives in the face of all our failures. Poor Katniss Everdeen sure could have benefited from the message of unconditional forgiveness, love and life that is ours in Jesus.
Sadly, many people are living in the same hopelessness and fear felt by Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games. That’s part of the reason this series was so popular. Now is the time for all of us who know the hope that Jesus gives to share this Good News with such hopeless and fearful souls. Jesus has won the victory over all evil and now the fire of the Holy Spirit burns within us and compels us to fight for the proclamation of this Truth throughout all of America and beyond.