Buzz Lightyear

"Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”-Jesus in John 8:32

Ah, Buzz Lightyear! Delulu from the moment we meet him. Problem solved by the end of the movie. Pure Pixar magic!

I’ve always thought Woody gets a bad rap for trying to help Buzz realize his true purpose. I mean, Woody was definitely jealous. The cowboy was being replaced by the space ranger, and—cue the music—all of these Strange Things were happening to him.

But Woody was also trying to help Buzz see the TRUTH.

Buzz wasn’t a space ranger. He couldn’t fly. He wasn’t stationed in the Gamma Quadrant. And Emperor Zurg was not waiting for him to finish repairing his spaceship.

Buzz Lightyear was a toy.

Here’s the hard part: Woody was right about Buzz, but that doesn’t mean Woody handled everything the right way. Sometimes our approach to helping someone can go too far. If your attempt to help someone ends with you pushing someone out of a window, check your motives, bro!

Galatians 6:1 says that when someone needs to be restored, we should do it gently—and then it immediately warns us to watch ourselves. In other words, the truth matters, but how we deliver that truth matters too.

Look at what Paul says in Romans:

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. -Romans 12:3

Buzz thought he was THE Buzz Lightyear—intergalactic space ranger bent on defeating the Evil Emperor Zurg. Woody was trying to tell Buzz that he wasn’t.

But not being what he imagined did not mean Buzz was nothing.

Buzz had another mission—one that may have sounded smaller, but was far more personal. He was somebody’s cherished companion. Andy’s name was written on the bottom of his foot. He belonged to someone. He had friends who needed him.

Buzz had to let go of who he thought he was before he could become who he was created to be.

If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves.
Galatians 6:3

That verse—and really, the whole beginning of Galatians 6—connects so well with Woody trying to help Buzz step out of his delusion and into the truth. (This gets deep fast the more you think about it...)

So, what are you striving to be?

Are you thinking more highly of yourself than you should? Are you building your identity around impressing people, being important, or proving that you are the hero?

Or have you gone too far in the other direction and confused humility with believing that you have no value? Because we already covered that with Forky: You aren’t trash!

Humility means seeing yourself truthfully—no more and no less than who God created you to be. It means understanding that you don’t have to be the center of the universe to have a meaningful place in it.

I don’t want you living delulu like Buzz Lightyear. Not because you should dream smaller, but because the truth is so much better than pretending.

Buzz eventually snapped out of it. He stopped trying to prove that he was a hero and started becoming one. He found his purpose. He found friendship. He fully belonged and was exactly where he needed to be.

That is the same hope I have for you, friend! If you are trying to follow Jesus, I am praying that you discover who He created you to be—and that you land exactly where you need to be.

—Zac