When someone tells you that you're called to a higher purpose, how do you react?
Are you apprehensive?
Do you feel like you're not the right person for the job?
Or do you take the opportunity head on, even if you aren't quite prepared for it?
Well, no matter how you react, it's something that we all go through at some point in our
lives, it is not exactly the easiest thing to handle.
And that's why on this season, we'll be looking at how to handle our purpose with one of my
favorite shows ever, and whether you consider it an anime or not, it's kind of up to you.
But that show is Avatar The Last Airbender.
Hey, what's going on guys?
My name is Nate, and you're listening to the Otaku Liberation, a show where we help you
break the chains that will hold you back in your life by connecting some biblical principles
with themes from your favorite anime.
And without further ado, let's get right on into it.
So the whole idea of purpose, right?
It seems to be this whole mystical journey that we all kind of go through, that we all
trying to figure out in our lives.
And I don't know about you, but I honestly wish I had some instructions, some really
clear instructions on what I need to do at every given moment, because I just think my
life will be a lot easier.
Maybe that's just me.
Who knows?
But what I do know is that God did create all of us for a purpose.
And honestly, that overarching purpose is the same, is to bring people to the kingdom,
to bring them to salvation, to help them know him in a better light.
But the method that each of us uses is going to be different and be tailor made to how
God made us.
So before we get too deep into it, the verse I want to cover for this episode is Ephesians
chapter two, verse 10.
It says, for we are God's handiwork created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God
prepared in advance for us to do.
And the Lord said it better than I could, right?
He created us for good works, for us to do good works.
And I guess the good thing is those works are already prepared for us, right?
They're already here just waiting for us to really mature enough and to get to the point
where we can handle it.
And that's a long and daunting process, but it's one that honestly, once you get to the
other side of it and you look back to see where you started, that's his own reward,
at least for me.
Again, you guys let me know if you feel the same or maybe I'm just talking crazy.
Who knows?
After all, I'm just in here in my room talking into this mic.
So I just have to pretend that you guys understand what I'm talking about.
But the reason why I chose Avatar is one, like I say, is one of my favorite shows ever
so I figured why not do a season on it.
But two, it's one of those shows that's been a cult classic that a lot of people, both
who are in my generation who saw it when it first came out and those who are just discovering
now can all agree that it's a masterpiece.
It's very well done and there's so many different things that you can pick from it.
So just a little bit of the overview.
Avatar Last Airbender was created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Brian Konietzko.
Sorry, Brian.
It originally aired from 2001 to 2008.
So early 2000s, just kind of finding its footing.
For me, going back and rewatching it, because I rewatched it in preparation for this season
and there's so many things that I didn't notice when I watched it the first time as a kid.
Or maybe I did notice a bit the meaning of it didn't really hit home until I got older
and just really understood the weight of the story.
I mean, getting at this 12 year old kid who's in charge of ending a hundred year old war.
Just think about how massive that is.
And we're talking about our purpose.
That's how big our purpose is here on earth.
And sorry, just the gravity of it can make it seem impossible at times.
And that's just the way God wants it.
He wants it to feel like we can't do it on our own because we can't.
But with him, everything is possible.
And he and everything.
So the points I want to go over in today's episode is one, the mission and two, the method.
So in Avatar, the mission was the nations, right?
Joining the four nations together and ending this war that was started by the Fire Nation.
Though in a world where people have these special abilities called bending, where they
can control the four different elements, air, water, earth and fire, the world is actually
divided into the separate nations.
So you have the Air Nomads who are a peaceful people who are pretty deeply connected with
nature.
They value freedom, enlightenment and detachment from worldly desires.
Then you have the Water Tribe who are divided into the North and South Poles.
They value community, family and spirituality.
Then you have the Earth Kingdom, which is the largest and most diverse nation representing
various landscapes and cultures.
And they cherish tradition and respect for authority.
And lastly is the Fire Nation, a militaristic nation who promotes ambition, discipline and
loyalty to the nation.
And one, I love, I just love the world building of the show because it goes deep into each
of these nations, into their cultures.
As you're watching the show, you begin to understand the differences that they all have,
but also some of the similarities that they all have.
And it mirrors today's world and the way we are now in like in real life.
We have these different nations, different countries, and heck, even we have different
cultures within our own countries.
And it's just as amazing to me how a lot of us can, can see the same thing, hear the same
thing, but interpret things differently.
And a world so divided, it makes you wonder, how can they ever be united?
How can they ever be brought together to be this one big, you know, happy family, right,
that we all envision?
But I mean, that's, but again, that's, that's the mission.
That's the mission Aang has.
He has, he has to end the war and not only that, but bring unity back into the world
because that's what the, the Avatar is supposed to do.
The Avatar represents unity.
It represents your wholeness in a sense.
And just like how he's in charge of the four nations of in his own world, we're in charge
of the people in the nations here on earth.
And again, God wants all to, to be brought into heaven, to be brought together under
unity.
And I mean, again, that's the reason why Jesus died.
He died for all of us, not just me, not just you, not just believers.
He died for everybody.
And I hope that, you know, one, we just wake up and realize, Hey, you know, let's stop
sinning and living.
And lastly, you'll live the way God intended us to live.
And the mission, the mission is, is grand.
It's huge.
It is, it's impossible to do by ourselves, but that's why God gave us the tools to at
least begin.
That's why he gave us the Bible to read and understand his word.
That's why he, he promotes community.
That's why we go to church and have, you know, different smaller groups outside of the church,
you know, with your friends, your family, and just, just doing life together.
And I don't want you to get so lost in, in the mission and just think, man, I don't even
know where to begin with this.
I don't even know why God chose me to do this.
You know, all these different things that honestly have gone through my head before.
If I'm just being completely honest, transparent, there's sometimes even now I'm thinking, God,
I'm not the right person for this.
And then he, you know, he slaps me and says, yes, you are.
Okay.
Maybe he doesn't slap me, but it's what it feels like sometimes.
So that's, that's the mission.
And now the method that, you know, God uses that the world needed an avatar is actually
the people in this case, the avatar himself.
And like I said, the avatar is someone who has to be a bridge between all four of the
nations.
And in order to do that first, he or they, they have the ability to master all four of
the different elements because the different bending arts and stuff are typically only
to one culture or the other air bending to the air nomads, fire bending, fire nation,
et cetera, et cetera.
But the avatar is the one person who can actually learn and master all four of them.
And it goes beyond just learning the actual martial art of bending.
It goes into actually understanding all four of the cultures.
The avatar is tasked with actually keeping the balance in the world while also acting
as a bridge between the physical and the spiritual.
Now if you're a believer, this sounds vaguely familiar, right?
You know, as, as Christians were called to be in the world, not of the world we have
in order to help and to help heal the world, we have to understand it.
But us being as Christians believe as Christ followers, we are called to a higher standard.
So it's hard.
It is just hard because we're here.
We want to save the world.
So we have to actually live in it, but we also know we are true home is, is in heaven.
And sometimes bridging that gap for ourselves is hard, let alone for people who are lost.
And that's why it's important to just really understand why God made you who he called
you to be and who he is and what his heart says.
And all of that just comes from being in the word, being in the scripture, praying and
praying and fasting, all of these different tools that we have, but it's a gradual process.
You know, it's a journey.
This whole thing about purpose and understanding why we were made, why we are here is something
that's going to take a lifetime.
And we may not even fully figure it out until we're standing in front of them for judgment.
That's the way it feels sometimes.
But that's why just like the avatar who is acting as this bridge is, is I think the whole,
the whole, what's the word I'm looking for?
The whole depiction of somebody being a bridge between the two worlds that you live in.
It just, it sums up, it sums up being a Christian perfectly to me.
And it just, I couldn't have said it any better or given a better illustration.
And it's also kind of daunting because you're someone who wields this awesome power, but
you also have so much responsibility.
We have awesome power because we're made in God's image.
We can do anything because he can do anything as long as we do it with him.
And that power is in each and every one of us.
But like the Spider-Man cliche, with great power comes with great responsibility.
And it can be daunting to those who either don't want the responsibility, which is fair.
I mean, after all, you didn't ask to be a shepherd.
You didn't ask for this.
But whether you ask for it or not, that's what God calls you to do, calls you to be.
And for those of us who are destined to do great things are often the ones who are asked
the most of.
And again, God's placed you here for a purpose, to act as a bridge between his kingdom and
those who don't know him.
And because he has you here for a great purpose, he's going to ask a lot out of you, a lot
from you, but he's also going to pour into you just as much, if not even more, because
he knows living on this earth is hard enough.
Just trying to survive, let alone trying to help and bring other people along for the
riot and to do what we were called to do.
So I mean, he knows that he fully understands that.
That's why he's prepared these things for us.
That's why he continues to pour into us.
Because again, he knows it's hard.
He knows it's hard.
He knows it's going to be a difficult journey.
But it's going to be so worth it in the end.
And sometimes I wish we were kind of like the Avatar because again, when the Avatar
is told of their identity, because they don't know right away, kind of like how we are,
we don't know about God and all that when we're born, right?
Someone has to tell us.
And typically the Avatar are told when they turn 16 that they are in fact the Avatar
and that begins their training for the different elements and all these different things.
But what they have, which I wish we had, is that they have the ability to actually communicate
with their past lives.
So the way the Avatar works is they are actually a fusion between a human and the spirit.
And the spirit is actually what allows them to be able to bend the four elements because
it's acting as like a medium of sorts.
And every time the Avatar dies, they get reincarnated into what's known as the Avatar cycle.
And it goes from each element.
It goes from air to water to earth to fire.
So in Avatar the last airbender is an airbender first, right?
Because his past life he was a firebender and in his next life he's going to be a waterbender.
But the Avatar have this kind of built in instruction manual being their past lives.
They can actually tap into that and be able to communicate with some of their past lives.
Just get more insight, more instruction, more direction just to help them along this journey.
And I mean, I'm sorry, even though I've written all this stuff down from my script,
sitting here talking about it just really opened my eyes to a lot of different things
is that one, we have the Holy Spirit that dwells within us, right?
So that's the spirit.
And we're never truly dead because we're going to live forever in heaven.
And now though we can't really talk to our past lives because we only have the one life,
right?
We have to look to those who came before us in the Bible, right?
These people died thousands of years ago.
They lived and died thousands of years ago, even more so actually.
And just we have those instructions just there for us.
We just have to know where to look, how to look, and how to interpret it.
And I'm sorry, I can keep going on and on about it because I love this stuff, guys.
You know it by now.
I'm in season what, seven?
I can keep going on and on.
But the key point I want you to get from today's episode is that God has a purpose for your
life.
It's a big one, it's a daunting one, but He has equipped you with everything that you
need and it's a step-by-step process.
He doesn't expect you to have all the answers right now or ever because we're never going
to have all the answers.
But what He does want you to do is just to be obedient to Him and to take those steps
to begin walking in your purpose or even just begin finding your purpose, right?
Because I believe I found what mine is right now, but I'm still working out the kinks.
And who knows, five, six years from now it may change in pivot because God may say, you
know, that wasn't it.
You were close, but that's not it.
And I just got to be ready to move.
And it may suck, but hey, that's what I'm here for, right?
But until that happens, or if that happens, you guys are going to hear me week in, week
out talk about anime and the Lord and how the two can actually come together and benefit
all of our lives.
But hey, if you like what you heard today and you want to take a deeper look into today's
episode, head on over to the otaku liberation.net where you'll find a blog article that covers
today's episode in a little more detail.
And don't forget to join me next week as we take a deep dive into the last end render
himself, that's Avatar Aang, and see what it looks like when you aren't really ready
for your purpose when your purpose comes calling.
And hey, always remember, you are the main character of your story and that story doesn't
end until he says so.
Alright, be blessed.