Coming to Disney+ this September, Pinocchio is a live-action remake of the classic 1940 animated film of the same name. A lonely woodworker named Geppetto (Tom Hanks) carves a wooden puppet, whom he names Pinocchio (voiced by Benjamin Evan Ainsworth). Geppetto sees a falling star and makes a wish: that the puppet would become a real boy. Late that night, the Blue Fairy (Cynthia Erivo) visits Geppetto’s workshop and uses her magic to bring Pinocchio to life. Although he’s still a puppet, the Blue Fairy promises to turn him into a real boy if he proves himself to be brave, truthful and unselfish. She assigns Jiminy Cricket (voiced by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) to act as Pinocchio’s conscience. When Geppetto wakes up, he is overjoyed that his wish has come true.

Pinocchio begins his life as a real boy and heads off to school, but he meets a con-artist fox named Honest John (voiced by Keegan-Michael Key), who convinces him to join Stromboli’s (Giuseppe Battiston) puppet show, despite Jiminy’s objections. When the Blue Fairy comes to rescue him, Pinocchio lies about what happened—and his nose grows longer and longer with each lie.

Despite the bad experience with Stromboli, Honest John persuades Pinocchio to go on vacation at Pleasure Island. There are no rules at Pleasure Island. Pinocchio ignores Jiminy’s warnings and befriends a troublemaking boy named Lampwick (Lewin Lloyd). Pinocchio joins the other boys in engaging in some bad behaviour. When Jiminy discovers that the island is not what it seems, he helps Pinocchio escape, but when they return home, they find that Geppetto is not there. The Blue Fairy tells them that he’s gone to look for Pinocchio, and now, he’s in terrible danger.

Can Pinocchio save Geppetto and finally prove that he is worthy of becoming a real boy?

God’s Voice

Pinocchio’s naiveté made it hard for him to recognize the truth. The people around him lie and convince him to make poor decisions. When he gets caught, Pinocchio stretches the truth—which stretches his nose—but even that doesn’t cause him to change course.

Like Pinocchio, we can often be led astray by the lies of this world. Most of the messages we receive through social media, TV and movies, and maybe even friends and family, are self-centred ones. They tell us that focusing on our own happiness is the most important thing in this life. Things like faith, morality and love don’t matter as long as we are happy. Serving only ourselves is the best path to living a happy life.

We’re not puppets. We have to choose to follow God’s voice. DIANE STARK

We know they are lies, but we hear those messages so often that we can start to believe them. Sometimes, we might even spread them to others, through our words or actions. After a while, we can lose our ability to discern the truth from the lies. We might end up in our own version of Pleasure Island—but we find out all too soon that there’s more pain than pleasure involved.

God knew that we would have this problem—it started with Adam and Eve—and He provided a solution for it. Just as Jiminy Cricket acted as Pinocchio’s conscience, we have a still, small voice that guides our behaviour. It’s the Holy Spirit—the part of God that lives inside every Christian. The Holy Spirit gently guides us through life, but we still have free will. We’re not puppets. We have to choose to follow God’s voice.

Never Too Late

The Bible is another excellent source of truth. When the world tells us that we aren’t good enough, God’s Word tells us that we are fearfully and wonderfully made in the very image of God (see Psalm 139:14). When the world tells us that God has given up on us and that He could never love us because of something we’ve done, God’s Word says that nothing can ever separate us from His love (see Romans 8:38-39). And when the world—or our own insecurities—tells us that we’ve messed up, missed our chance, and now it’s too late for us, the Bible tells us that God still has a plan (see Jeremiah 29:11).

Just as Geppetto made Pinocchio and loved him like his own son, God created us to be His children. He didn’t want puppets who would mindlessly obey Him. He wanted people who would choose to love Him and have an authentic relationship with Him. That doesn’t change when we mess up. God loves us and would do anything to rescue us, including sacrificing His own Son, Jesus.

It’s never too late to call on God. Unlike Pinocchio, we don’t have to prove that we’re worthy; God already knows that we’re not, but He loves us all the same.

We just have to ask Him into our lives—and that’s no lie.

Diane Stark is a wife, mother of five and freelance writer from rural Indiana. She loves to write about the important things in life: her family and her faith.