Perhaps the biggest breakout hit of the summer, Guardians of the Galaxy is about a team of very unlikely heroes. Contrasted with the Avengers, for example, these individuals are not already heroes when they meet each. Quite the contrary, they are actually rather unsavory: thieves, assassins, bounty-hunters, etc. And they start out at the beginning of the movie with their own largely self-motivated agenda. What brings this very strange and very unlikely group to rise to the occasion and become more than they were at the beginning of the movie is a common cause in the face of a very real threat. Thousands of people will die, if the villains are left unchallenged. This causes them to rise above their selfishness and become the heroes that we the viewers know they are destined to be. (Spoiler alert) And as Christ uses the wood of the cross to sacrifice Himself to save the world, one character goes so far as to sacrifice himself to save others, even using his own wood readily at his disposal.
This is what a life rooted in God looks like. God takes us where we are at, with all of our sins, faults, and weaknesses; but He loves us too much to let us stay that way. He gives us a meaning, a purpose for living that goes to the very core of our identity and that calls us out of our own selfish world of immediate gratification. We can choose to stay in that selfish world, but the threat of evil is very real and thousands upon thousands of lives are at stake. God calls us out of ourselves to rise to the occasion and become the heroes we are destined to be. We were made for so much more than pleasure and comfort. We were made for more than sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll. By letting go of our own selfishness and saying "yes" to God's plan for our lives, we become who we are really meant to be. We become fellow guardians of the galaxy that God has given us.
