By Michael L. Ritchie D.C.
Forrest Gump must be my overall favorite movie. It has action, love, sports, the underdog becomes the hero and there are lessons to be learned by watching it. I’m not a smart man but everything I know I have learned from Forrest, Forrest Gump. So, over the next several weeks I would like to share some of those lessons I have learned. I will be using quotes from the movie to start the subject.
This week’s quote occurred after Jenny returns to Green Bow, Alabama to stay with Gump for a while when all her options have been exhausted. Gump had loved Jenny since the day he laid eyes on her in elementary school.
Forrest Gump:
Will you marry me?
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Forrest Gump:
I’d make a good husband, Jenny.
Jenny Curran:
You would, Forrest.
Forrest Gump:
But you won’t marry me.
Jenny Curran:
You don’t wanna marry me.
Forrest Gump:
Why don’t you love me, Jenny? I’m not a smart man, but I know what love is. If you are sick, I will take care of you.
In a country with a 40-50 percent divorce rate for first marriages, I think that many people could use advice from Forrest Gump about love.
Apostle Paul has a great description of love in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 when it says:
13 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.
2 If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.
3-7 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
The Message (MSG)
Jenny had a wrong idea of love because of the abuse she suffered as a child. She began running away from everything but running to all the wrong things. Forrest, on the other hand, had a pure, innocent love that overlooked all of Jenny’s mistakes and loved her for who she was. It didn’t matter that she did all kinds of unspeakable things with people who would use her and throw her away. Forrest’s kind of love was persistent and unconditional just like our heavenly Father. While we were in our sins and trespasses Christ died for us. He loved us that much! I think Forrest is way ahead of most of us when it comes to love. It doesn’t take a genius to recognize it!
Love that crossed the universe
That paid the greatest price
To win from death his one true love
Ultimately give his life
Still the grave could not hold him
Love always will prevail
So, trust Jesus with your life
Because his love will never fail
Do you know what love is?
Next week: Life is like a box of chocolates
