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In the movie Guarding Tess (1994), Shirley MacLaine plays Tess Carlisle, the widowed First Lady of a former U.S. president — a woman accustomed to power, privilege, and control, yet now exiled to the slow, quiet life of a small town in Ohio.
Assigned to protect her is Secret Service Agent Doug Chesnic (Nicolas Cage). For him, guarding Tess is punishment — she’s demanding, manipulative, and delights in pushing his buttons. Their relationship begins as open warfare: she treats him like a servant; he responds with cold, procedural distance.
But then comes the funeral scene—where everything changes. It’s a small detail, but it tells you everything about who these two really are. It’s the telling moment Tess notices tears streaming down Doug Chesnic’s cheeks:
Tess Carlisle:
“You cried at his funeral. I saw you.”
Doug Chesnic:
“It was a funeral, ma’am.”
Tess Carlisle:
“You didn’t even like him. You told me he was a scoundrel.”
Doug Chesnic:
“He was the President of the United States, ma’am.”
Despite knowing in explicit detail the former president’s failings — which were shameful and severe — the agent loved him nonetheless.
That very act of loving someone who wasn’t lovable endeared Doug Chesnic to Tess. From that point forward, the two became close friends.
Did you catch that phrase, loving that which is unlovable? If we were asked, How can the Gospel best be defined? That’s it. Who would have guessed such a rich spiritual principle lies hidden in the script of a Hollywood movie? Knowingly or not, it’s definitely there.
You know your flaws, and I know mine. We’re unable to hide the worst of our worst—each one blush-worthy in its own right, for sure.
And yet—here’s the crazy part—the Lord of creation doesn’t just tolerate us and our failings; He adores us with an insufferable adoration despite our flaws.
What kind of God would sing over His fallen subjects with hymns of unbridled adoration? Like a proud parent rejoicing exuberantly over their newborn baby in its crib, years before the child could do anything meritorious or right.
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Only the Lord God of the Bible could—and would—do such a thing.
Doesn’t that almost sound fictional? For sure it does. But it’s not.
The late Pastor Tim Keller wrote in his book, The Meaning of Marriage:
To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial.
To be known and not loved is our greatest fear.
But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God.
Years ago, a gardener walked his property every morning—pruning, watering, and tending to his plants as if they were children.
Among his rows of roses stood one ugly, twisted bush—half-dead, full of thorns, refusing to bloom. His workers suggested digging it up.
But he wouldn’t.
Instead, he trimmed its dead wood, fed its roots, and watered it by hand. When asked why he wasted so much effort, he said quietly, “Because it’s mine.”
A year later, that same bush exploded in color—the richest crimson blooms in the garden.
The gardener never loved it because it was beautiful.
It became beautiful because he loved it.
In Isaiah 1:18, the Prophet Isaiah stated,
“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.”
In Titus 3:3-5, the Apostle Paul wrote:
“For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray…But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.”
If I’m merely writing this blog and you’re just reading it, and nothing more, we’re both spinning our wheels.
For what I’m sharing to have teeth, I’d ask you to commit to two practical applications:
1st - Take 10 minutes before you go to sleep tonight thanking God for delighting in you, even though He knows your flaws. Please don’t gloss over those three words —delighting in you—as they directly apply to you. Let us likewise reason together, “Our God is so incredibly good.”
2nd – That first one was easy; this next one, not so much. Pick the one scoundrel that irks you most, and ask God to give you a supernatural love toward him or her. As you do rejoice-because you’re about to look a lot more like your most Glorious God.
How can I say that? It’s easy. See below:
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