Adrien Brody’s second Oscar puts him in rare company

The Academy Award for Best Actor went to Adrien Brody this year, making him one of only eleven two-time Best Actor winners in history. Among their number are Jack Nicholson, Marlon Brando, Tom Hanks, Dustin Hoffman, and Anthony Hopkins. Only Daniel Day-Lewis, with three Best Actor Oscars, has more.

When you ask yourself what they have in common, what comes to mind? For me (and many others), the answer is believability—a sense that they were the person they portrayed.

By contrast, Lee Child, author of the “Reacher” series of novels, says Alan Ritchson is a better fit to play the former Army military policeman on screen than Tom Cruise was. He explained: “Working with Tom was a pleasure and a privilege—he’s a really smart guy, he’s a smart filmmaker, he’s real fun. But you cannot escape the fact that Reacher is a huge guy.”

Anyone like me who has read the novels would agree. In the books, the character is 6’5”, but Cruise is 5’7”. Child said of his literary creation, “He’s huge, he’s implacable, he’s scary. And for all Tom’s ability in getting the internals of Reacher out, he is not huge and he is not scary.”

Another story illustrates our theme: William Shatner says he’s been approached about another return as Captain Kirk and that he is open to the idea. Shatner portrayed James T. Kirk in the original Star Trek series from 1966 to 1969 and then appeared in seven films. Other actors have portrayed the character since, but to those of us who remember the original, none of them is the “real” Captain Kirk.

By contrast, I just read that several actors turned down the lead role in The Matrix before Keanu Reeves made it iconic. Brad Pitt was offered the role and regrets turning it down. Will Smith, Nicolas Cage, and Val Kilmer turned down the role as well. Interestingly, Sandra Bullock was considered, with the suggestion that the screenplay be rewritten to make the lead character a woman.

For all of us who have seen the film series, it’s hard to imagine anyone but Reeves as Neo.

Why it’s hard to hear people we don’t trust

One of the most important books on public speaking I’ve ever read is Bert Decker’s You’ve Got to Be Believed to Be Heard: The Complete Book of Speaking . . . in Business and in Life! Becker cites very convincing evidence that we process public speakers through a prism of believability. In his telling, this is an evolutionary function of our “primal brain” that instinctually detects threats to us. In my telling, this is part of how God made us for his purposes.

Whatever your theology, the process is the same: we subconsciously evaluate a speaker by whether or not we trust them before we evaluate their message consciously. If we do not believe them, there’s something in us that makes it difficult for us even to hear them, much less to be persuaded by them.

You can test this thesis the next time someone on television is espousing a political or cultural position with which you disagree fundamentally. If you’re like me, you’ll find it hard even to consider their arguments.

Since you already know that life begins at conception, or God creates us male and female, or marriage is intended for one man and one woman (for example), you’ll instinctively dismiss claims to the contrary and ask yourself, “Why waste your time listening to what you already know to be wrong?

This is what Becker argues: you’ve got to be believed to be heard. The principle applies to great actors, but also to all who seek to advance God’s kingdom today.

An athlete who thanks God when they lose

Character is revealed under pressure. Earthquakes don’t create fault lines—they reveal them. Brush fires don’t create dry timber—they consume it.

So it is with Christians who serve Christ in hard times and places.

When life is good, people expect us to glorify God for his blessings. When life is hard and we still honor and serve him, they are surprised and take note.

We often hear athletes on winning teams thank God for their victory. I’ve yet to hear one on the losing team being interviewed who thanked God despite their loss. Such a word would impress me and others who heard it.

This is because we live in a transactional culture and, therefore, view religion through a transactional lens. We thank our employer when we get a raise, not when we get fired. We thank the doctor who cures our illness, not the one whose efforts prove fruitless.

So it is with God: we praise him for his favor but question him when we suffer. But it is faith that struggles and yet trusts that makes all the difference.

“Yet I will rejoice in the Lᴏʀᴅ”

Jesus wept at Lazarus’ grave, sweat drops of blood in Gethsemane, and cried from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). But he trusted his Father anyway, deciding to do his will over his own (Matthew 26:39) and trusting him with his spirit at his death (Luke 23:46).

Job caught the balance between questions and faith in his proclamation: “Though he slay me, I will hope in him; yet I will argue my ways to his face” (Job 13:15).

To be believed and thus heard, it is vital that we do both.

Be honest about your questions, knowing God invites you to “argue with him” (my literal translation of Isaiah 1:18) and wants you to love him with “all your mind” (Matthew 22:37). Such honesty, in fact, is crucial to being believed by others. If we never have questions or doubts, people will rightfully wonder if we are being honest with them and with ourselves.

But then choose to trust your Father even when—especially when—you don’t understand him.

When this is hard, we can pray for the faith to have faith. We can say with the father of a demoniac son, “I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24). And we can remember that our faith amid struggles and suffering can be our most powerful and most compelling witness.

Habakkuk’s prayer is one of the most believable and powerful declarations in Scripture:

Though the fig tree should not blossom,

nor fruit be on the vines,

the produce of the olive fail

and the fields yield no food,

the flock be cut off from the fold

and there be no herd in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the Lᴏʀᴅ;

I will take joy in the God of my salvation (Habakkuk 3:17–18).

Do you need to make his prayer yours today?