Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look in an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth. For the Coulson Center, I'm John Stonestreet. Eighty years ago, a down-and-out man, George Bailey, discovered that really, it's a wonderful life. The redemption of Jimmy Stewart's character took place on Christmas Eve of 1945, the same night that Clarence got his wings. It's an amazing film, a Christmas classic, and particularly meaningful for men, bearing the weight of providing for their families.
And it's also quite a Christian film as well. As Anne Morris wrote in her book, It's a Wonderful Life Advent devotional, and I quote, watching It's a Wonderful Life last Christmas, it struck me, not for the first time, that director Frank Capra, who came from a large and loving Catholic family, had managed to sneak a boatload of biblical teachings into this, his greatest film. For example, one important theme that's developed in the film is the idea of unmerited favor, what the Bible calls grace At the start of the film the addicted druggist Mr Gower slaps a young George Bailey on the ear so hard it starts to bleed George however chooses to forgive him realizing that Mr. Gower had just received news that his son had died. In a later scene, George and Mary try to leave for their honeymoon, but on their way out of town, witness a run on the building and loan.
Old man Potter steps in and offers 50 cents on the dollar to customers to move their business. Many are tempted to take him up on it, But George pleads with the townspeople to keep their money at the Bailey building and loan. According to Bob Welch, author of 52 Little Lessons from It's a Wonderful Life, the Baileys believe in grace. Potter doesn't. Here, Ed, George says to one of the neighbors, you remember last year when things weren't going so well and you couldn't make your payments?
You didn't lose your house, did you? Do you think Potter would have let you keep it?
Well, of course not, because old man Potter, as is clear in the film, he doesn't do grace. And of course, there's that scene when George Bailey begins to believe that all is lost and begins to think he better dead than alive It begins with that was lost by Uncle Billy on Christmas Eve Though George grabs Uncle Billy and shouts at him in the end, he chooses to extend grace. Forced to ask Mr. Potter for help, George takes the blame for the law, saying he's the one who misplaced the money. Still, in the film, it's George's wife, Mary Bailey, who especially excels at offering grace.
When George comes home from work on Christmas Eve and yells at his wife and kids and insults his daughter's teacher over the phone and trashes the living room, Mary has every right to be furious. But instead, she forgives George. She tells the children to pray for their dad and goes around town enlisting people to help them. Grace, as Welch says, and I quote, is the foundation of the Christian faith. Jesus granting us grace by forgiving our sins flies in the face of virtually every other religion, which operates on a you-get-what-you-deserve basis But Jesus says in essence you don get what you deserve You get what you don deserve It is the willingness to offer grace and to accept grace and in the end to live by grace that makes Bedford Falls just a much better place to live than Potterville Of course, there are many other wonderful lessons from It's a Wonderful Life.
We're reminded to count our blessings. We're reminded that true riches are not about money, but about family and friends. We're reminded that we can actually make a difference because as Clarence reminds George, every person's life touches so many others.
Now, our cars and our homes and our stores look nothing like those that filled Bedford Falls. But It's a Wonderful Life speaks timeless truth about who we are and what life is all about. Critics and cynics might dismiss the film as being too nostalgic or being too whitewashed or something like that. But the film is a beautiful reminder that in the midst of life's darkness, grace is what truly endures. For the Coulson Center, I'm John Stonestreet with Breakpoint.
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