Being faithful

Continuing a new series of topical reflections, Ivan Radford considers the example set by The Traitors US

‘HE’S my best friend.’ ‘I don’t trust them as far as I can throw them.’ ‘Why would you do that? It makes zero sense.’ These are all lines you can hear in The Traitors US, which is currently airing on BBC One on Wednesdays.

The series is the American counterpart to the recent hit UK show, which has been streamed more than 28 million times on BBC iPlayer to date. It places a group of people in a lavish, remote castle and asks them to work together to build up a group prize pot. But among them are several people who are designated ‘traitors’ and challenged with evicting people from the game without being detected.

The result is a tense mix of teamwork and suspense – and, if you were to walk into such a situation in real life, would probably be one of the least welcoming environments you could imagine.

The American version of the series involves not only members of the public but also former reality TV contestants, who pride themselves on their experience in putting on a show. Each edition’s presenter, meanwhile, plays into the theatrics of proceedings with a smirk.

Reality TV – one of the most human inventions of all human inventions – invites us to look at human failings in others and have a chuckle. That could never be us, we’re meant to tell ourselves, then laugh at the petty bickering that unfolds. Because, of course, it’s much easier to do that than look at ourselves and how we treat other people.

In both the UK and US incarnations of the show, there is one positive element: the group repeatedly pulls together to complete challenges and puzzles, putting aside their differences for a greater goal. All the while, the participants proclaim to each other, ‘I’m 100 per cent faithful!’

But the key reason the format works, and what draws so many viewers to it, is that this motley crew of castle inhabitants apparently can’t tell the difference between those who are faithful and those who aren’t.

As Christians, we pray for the exact opposite to be the case: for everything we say and do to reflect God’s love. The joy and peace that we know from walking with Jesus through whatever circumstances we face mark us out from the world around us. We are called to ‘let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in Heaven’ (Matthew 5:16).

We are invited to have life in all its fullness and to bring others to that same

Reflect And Respond

Revisit Matthew 5:13–16. Is your light visible or hidden to others? Why?

Read Philippians 4:8 and Romans 12. Do you hold fast to what is good? How can you show hospitality where you are?

Listen to ‘Lord, I Come Before Your Throne of Grace’ (SASB 378). How does God’s faithfulness encourage you in your faith?

beautiful sense of belonging – not by arguing with people, but by telling of Jesus’ love and then showing it in every fibre of our lives. That includes how we work together as a Church for the greater good, putting aside small differences and encouraging one another to keep our eyes on Jesus – a best friend who is 100 per cent faithful. Forget the elaborate castle, that kind of welcoming environment is one anyone would want to join. soeayoeoud

IVAN RADFORD Managing Editor Salvationist

Did you know…?

by

Garry D Reed

Test yourself on these surprising Bible facts

1 Which country produces the most copies of the Bible annually?

2 The Bible was written in three languages: Hebrew, Aramaic and which other language?

3 Which books in the Bible do not mention the word ‘God’?

4 After Nebuchadnezzar sentenced Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to be thrown into a raging furnace, how many men did he see in the inferno?

5 According to the Bible, which animals are apparently able to speak? (One is a mammal, the other is a reptile.)

6 Which person in the Bible had a vision of four unrelated beasts emerging from the ocean?

7 Who is said to have died at 969 years old, being the longest living of all Bible characters?

8 Which king ate grass like an ox, and had his body soaked with the dew of heaven until his hair grew like eagle feathers and his nails like claws?

9 What is the longest name in the Bible?

10 Who cut Samson’s hair?

11 What is the shortest verse in the Bible?

12 What are the first and last words in the Bible?