VeggieTales: What Does It Mean to Love People?

"Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ" (Galatians 1:10, NIV).

Over lunch today, we were watching VeggieTales on NBC. As usual, it was a good story, told in an entertaining way. It kept Christopher's attention and taught some good spiritual values as the story of Ruth was re-told in the world of cartoon vegetables.

However, at the end of the episode, Bob the Tomato and Larry the Pickle (uh...I mean Cucumber) were discussing the point of the episode when they completely missed it. One of them said, "So, you see, loving people means doing what they want instead of what you want." I understood that they were trying to get to the unselfish nature of love, but I thought, Oh, no! What a sick way of looking at love. I don't want Christopher to grow up thinking that his mission is to be a people-pleaser.

I said, "Christopher, that wasn't quite what loving people means. Loving people means doing what they need instead of what they may want." Janet chimed in with, "That's right. That's why we don't let you do everything you want, but we try to help you with everything you need. Sometimes what you want is not good for you, so we give you what you need instead. That's how we show that we really love you."

Normally, I don't worry about Christopher watching VeggieTales since it usually looks at life from a biblical worldview, but in this case, it sent the wrong message. I'm glad that we had the opportunity to discuss it, though.