The Greatest Showman: Return to Your First Love

“‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. Revelation 2:2-5

Sometimes the journey for the Christian can be difficult. We feel that the good we do goes unrewarded and the evil that spreads in the world gets stronger. We see injustice and we want to balance the scales. We know the spiritual victory is ours, but the physical and emotional battles take their toll. This sometimes results in “abandoning our first love”. Revelation chapter 2 was written for the church in Ephesus, but it was also written for the church today. We need to be careful to remember Christ is the center of what we do, and all our actions should sprout from that love.

The Greatest Showman provides a beautiful musical picture of the Christian walk. The movie starts with P.T. Barnum as a poor young boy assisting his father in the tailor business. He is demeaned and mistreated by the wealthy families they service. Despite his lowly status however, he attempts to win the heart of the daughter of one of these wealthy families. She sees his heart for adventure and his amazing imagination and falls for him as well, against the wishes of her father.

P.T. desires to give his wife and two daughters a life filled with adventure and wonder. But his financial status and his father-in-law’s promise that his daughter would return to the financial security of her family haunt his every step. After another job falls through for P.T., he dejectedly says to his wife, “This is not the life I promised you.” His wife gently responds “but I have everything I want.”

Inspired by his family and with a desire to give them more, P.T. decides to invest in a museum, to let people see what they have never seen before. But it is another failing venture. The crowds are uninterested in seeing his wondrous attractions. It is at this point that P.T.’s daughter suggests they need to show things that are alive. P.T. takes her advice and goes to recruit people for a show like none had seen before. He reaches out to the lower class of society and the rejected to bring them to perform.

His shows start to draw crowds and his show is soon a hit. But with the success came controversy. Many citizens of the town considered the performers to be freaks and outcasts that should not be seen. The upper class of the town decried his show, saying it was not art. Despite bringing a great deal of happiness to audiences and his family, the words of the critics and his father-in-law cause him to seek approval from the elite.

P.T. does everything in his power to gain the respect and approval of those who look down on him. It is in this moment that he becomes like the church of Ephesus. on the surface, it appears that he is still working towards the best interest of his family and the show, but in reality he is merely placating for societal approval. His actions are no longer being informed by his love, but by his insatiable desire for recognition.

A Christian must be very careful not to follow in the footsteps of P.T. when we are presenting the message of the gospel. We, like P.T., can start with enthusiasm presenting the good news to the world. But when the world rejects the Gospel, we often take it as an offense against us. It then becomes our personal mission to change the Gospel to fit the criteria of acceptance in the world. We become so enamored with this idea of convincing the elite, we forget to love them. We also forget what Jesus himself said about rejection.

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” John 15:18-19

When Jesus came preaching the good news, He was crucified on a cross for it. But He said “Father forgive them, they know not what they do.” We as the Church need to remember that not all will receive the message of Christ. We are to present the Gospel out of our love for Jesus, not to be proven correct as a reward for our steadfastness. Otherwise we will veer off course and bring more harm to the message of the Gospel than good. Jesus forgave those who rejected Him, we need to do the same.

We need to remember why we have chosen to follow Christ. He showed us mercy while we were sinners. We need to do likewise and love, even when people disagree with us and insult us. God is love. If we do not love others, how can we say we represent Him. I do not want God to say to me, “You have forgotten your first love.” I want God’s love to pour into me and overflow into the lives of others. That love is infectious, and needs no repackaging to win hearts.

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3

Remember when sharing the Gospel with anyone, you are not doing it to convince them to join Christianity. You are doing it because you are showing love to the one you are speaking to. Never make it about convincing them. It should always be about loving them. Then you will know you have not forsaken God, because God is love.

P.T. finally receives the accolades he desired, but it was at the expense of his theater, reputation, and his home. It is then he realizes that all the accolades the world can give, cannot replace his first love: family. He sings:

I drank champagne with kings and queens
The politicians praised my name
But those are someone else’s dreams
The pitfalls of the man I became
For years and years
I chased their cheers
The crazy speed of always needing more
But when I stop
And see you here
I remember who all this was for

And from now on
These eyes will not be blinded by the lights
From now on
What’s waited till tomorrow starts tonight
It starts tonight
And let the promise in me start
Like an anthem in my heart
From now on

– Greatest Showman: From Now On

P.T. says “I remember who all this was for.” We should do the same. We give are all including our pride and our life for Jesus. All the respect and admiration this world can give, pales in comparison to the love God lavishes on his children. If we do lose sight of our first love, God will remain waiting for us to return to Him. He will also be saying “Come back home.”