Oh yeah, and the main reason- the MacGyverisms! I think that’s got to be the main thing that holds the show together and sets it apart from other shows. MacGyver’s ingenuity has always been one of the main things that attracted me to the show to begin with, along with those daring, last-minute escapes (which are generally pulled off through MacGyverisms). You know what a MacGyverism is, right? It’s the colloquial term coined for those crazy inventions MacGyver pulls together- those “clever little things MacGyver likes to make out of odd bits”, as Quayle put it in “Deathlock”- that way of taking seemingly useless items and making something useful out of them. The term was first coined in the “Twice Stung” episode of MacGyver, whereupon Mac is introduced to a Phoenix Foundation employee, Joanne Remmings, who has no doubt heard all the legends and stories of MacGyver and his inventiveness, and upon meeting him blurts out, “You’re the guy who does the whatchamacallits- you know, MacGyverisms- turns one thing into another!” While the term has yet to make it to official inclusion in the Merriam Webster dictionary (though I wouldn’t be surprised to see it there someday), one can find it listed in slang dictionaries, such as The Online Slang Dictionary. (Note- beware of foul language.) From the common usage of the term on the Internet, on radio shows, in news stories and general word on the street, I’d say it’s safe to say “MacGyverisms” and in fact, “to MacGyver” has entered the common English vernacular.
This is the crux of the appeal and wonder of MacGyver. Often times those with MacGyver are constantly questioning, “What are you doing?” Longtime friends like Jack Dalton and Pete Thornton have come to know that this is what MacGyver does and don’t question it. “I’ve never been able to figure out how your mind works, but I know when it works,” as Pete said in “Partners”. In fact, when MacGyver was airing on the USA cable channel, one of the ads for the show had a little jingle that would repeat, “MacGyver- what’s he doing with that thing?” (And of course, the narrator would come in saying, “Find out what MacGyver IS doing with that thing on USA, weekdays at 4 PM”.
) Both those with MacGyver and the audience watching would be amazed as MacGyver takes common, ordinary, everyday items and turns them into something extraordinary that they would never have thought of, even if someone told them! (As sometimes MacGyver would try to explain, but the person with him would just have to wait to see it all come together to truly understand.) And this is exactly what God does in our lives. “Look at the nations and watch- and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.” (Habakkuk 1:5) God is always up to something extraordinary that our 3 and a half pounds worth of human brains could never foresee or comprehend. “Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably MORE than all WE ASK or IMAGINE, according to HIS power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20-21, emphasis added by me). The Lord God is so much infinitely bigger than all of us. As a song I used to sing as a child in Sunday School goes, “My God is so big, so strong and so mighty- there’s nothing my God cannot do.”
MacGyver always maintains a positive and optimistic outlook on life and any situation he’s in. And he’s right- positive thinking can be very powerful. Usually those who think they’ll survive an ordeal no matter what actually do wind up surviving and those who think they won’t- don’t. So many times we find ourselves watching with rapt attention as MacGyver and a companion find themselves trapped in a seemingly hopeless situation and wonder how in the world they can possibly escape. And just when it seems all hope is or should be lost, MacGyver tells us to keep believing that we’ll escape. And somehow he engineers another brilliant escape- by turning off the compactor in a garbage truck and holding on to the door for dear life, or defusing a bomb with an ice hockey ticket or using a fire hose threaded on an axle to force a door open. (As seen in episodes “Dalton, Jack of Spies”, “Phoenix Under Siege”, and “Passages”, for those keeping score at home.
) And this is partly what also draws us to MacGyver. We want to have that positive and optimistic view of our own lives, believing that everything will work out for the best in the end and that somehow even the bad things can work for our good, much as Romans 8:28 tells us. But there’s a catch in that verse. It’s God who works everything together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. We can’t master this thing called life on our own. And this is perhaps MacGyver’s greatest flaw and falling. There is a strong tendency toward a humanistic viewpoint in the show; that mankind can somehow solve its problems for itself and better itself to a state of perfection and earthly perfect harmony. And as much as I might like to believe John Lennon’s plea in his song “Imagine”, I must say that I cannot. That kind of thinking is a lie. One need only to listen to another great song by Billy Joel called “We Didn’t Start the Fire” to know that after thousands of years of trying, mankind has not gotten past Cain killing his brother Abel in Genesis 4. We still have brothers fighting each other in the Middle East. We still have white and black brothers fighting each other in racial wars. We have not achieved utopia and we never will. And though getting rid of guns would certainly be a great achievement, as MacGyver would love to see, that will still not solve the basic problem. What humanity fails to realize is that humanity is humanity’s greatest problem!
No matter how much we’d like to think we’ve evolved beyond the concepts of right and wrong, there is still a heart of eternity that beats in us all that continues to remind us we can never get away from morality. (Ecclesiastes 3:11) You can deny its existence, but have someone steal your possession and you quickly realize that thinking everything is gray is a crock. You feel outrage at someone stealing from you because you know that it is wrong. Whether you acknowledge that God already told us that in Exodus 20:15 or that our human law says it’s wrong, you still intrinsically know that it is wrong. (And this is why our human law that our governments have set up are really still based on the laws that the only really worthy Lawgiver has given us- the Law that the Lord God has set down in The Bible.) And lest you think that you still are a good person who does right things, we must remember that God says His standard is perfection- nothing less. “I am the Lord God who brought you out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.” (Leviticus 11:45). This is the price of admission into Heaven. And if we find that we can admit to breaking any one of God’s laws- that entirely disqualifies us from Heaven. “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” (James 2:10)
And The Bible makes it plain that there is no one who is truly righteous and no one who seeks after God. (Psalms 14:3) “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.” (Isaiah 64:6) Even the “good” things we think we do, like giving to the poor and staying true to our spouse, while they are good things to do, can never measure up to God’s holiness. Because our problem goes even deeper than what we do- it goes to who we are. Because of the sin of Adam and Eve back in Genesis 3, every human born since has been born into sin. We bear the sins of our parents and do wrong by default. The reason why two babies will instantly fight over a toy when placed between the two of them or suddenly become jealous of a new toy introduced when they were perfectly content with what they previously had is because of a sin nature that everyone is born with. This is a concept known as original sin and it’s true. And it is why no one can do anything to save themselves. We are sinners in the hands of an angry God, as Jonathan Edwards once said in a famous sermon. Without the intervention of a loving God, we truly are beyond all hope for eternity.
But- praise God there IS a but- there IS still hope. As MacGyver was asked in “Birth Day”, “You don’t give up, do you?” MacGyver’s answer- “No ma’am, I don’t.” Or as Lisa Woodman asked him in “Cease Fire”, “You aren’t gonna just give up, are you?” MacGyver vehemently answered, “No! Are you?” And in the same manner, God never gives up either. There is a saying that goes, “God don’t make no junk”. Grammatical correctness aside, this saying is true. God is a perfect God and everything He does, He does it perfectly the first time. In Genesis 1, we can read God’s pronouncement on His creation and see that it was good. And on the 6th. day, when He created human beings- the pinnacle of His creation- God calls His workmanship very good. (Genesis 1:31) We are made in God’s image! (Genesis 1:26-27) That’s an incredible and infinite booster shot in the arm to our self-worth! Don’t get me wrong- I love animals and plants and God does too because He made them. And they have their own place in His kingdom. But He treasures human beings the most because of their eternal souls. God thinks we’re infinitely important!!! Every single person who ever lived, lives or will live matters to God! This is why we have no place or room to judge another person- because they’re made in God’s image (and ultimately, we’re all in the same boat- and it ain’t Noah’s- more like Charon’s boat- the ferryman of the river Acheron or Styx. [the Greek mythological rivers to Hades]). Men and women have eternal value to God. “When it comes down to me against a situation, I don’t like the situation to win,” MacGyver said in “The Road Not Taken”. And God was not content to let the situation of sin win either. He already had a plan in mind to pull off the greatest MacGyverism ever! (Revelation 13:8)
Just as MacGyver takes the common and mundane items around him that others might not ever give a second glance, God takes the vain and weak things of the world to confound the wise. (1 Corinthians 1:25-31) What was useless before becomes useful to God, much as Onesimus became to Philemon. (Philemon 1:11) Back in the Old Testament, God had a system set up with His people, the Israelites. They had a complex system of sacrifices that the priests would make for the people to cover their sins. Most all of the book of Leviticus is all about this. And they had a bull to be used for a sin offering and a goat used for the burnt offering to be slaughtered for sacrifice on the Day of Atonement. (Leviticus 16) This is where we get the term “scapegoat” in our modern language. But the culmination of the sacrifice system came through the Passover. (Exodus 12) When God rescued the Israelites from Pharaoh’s hand in Egypt, through a series of ten plagues, He used the final plague to illustrate our final redemption. God sent the death angel to kill the first born male in every household, from the king to the servants to the animals that did not have the blood of a lamb upon its doorposts. It had to be a one year old, male, spotless lamb without blemish- the very best! But though these sacrifices served to appease God’s anger for a while, they could never truly take our sins away. This is why God sent the ultimate sacrifice- the ultimate Passover Lamb. As it’s stated in the Law, without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. (Hebrews 9:22)
Jesus Christ became that Passover Lamb for us. He came to Earth as the Son of God born for one purpose only- to die on a cross at Calvary to pay for the sins of the world. When John the Baptist saw Jesus, he said of Him, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) This is the only sacrifice that God will accept. It had to be a perfect sacrifice and only God Himself could be that perfect sacrifice. He gave His own life for us by giving up His Son to die a cruel, tortured, mocking death on a cross- which in itself was a humiliation, because it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” (Galatians 3:13) And this is the Good News of the Gospel! “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.” (John 3:16-17)
And this truly is the greatest MacGyverism ever! God took what was a hopeless situation and turned it around to give us the greatest hope ever in Christ! God didn’t have any other materials handy that could do the job- He had to give of Himself- all the way- to pull this off. And He endured the scorn and shame of the cross and emerged victorious when He arose on the third day! As the angel told the women at the tomb on that day, “He is not here; He has risen, just as He said.” (Matthew 28:6) “Therefore God raised Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in Heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:9-11)
And just as MacGyver takes ordinary things and makes something extraordinary out of them, Jesus Christ takes ordinary lives and makes something extraordinary out of them! Jesus wants to save everyone from the fate we all deserve, which is burning in Hell for all eternity. Please understand that God created Hell for one purpose- to eternally punish the devil and his demons. God never intended or wanted humans to ever go there! God is no disinterested sadist as some like to make Him out to be who gets His jollies by watching underlings suffer! God does not view us like that at all! (Ezekiel 18:23) God sends no person to Hell- but they choose to go there by rejecting His FREE offer of salvation! “But what does it say? ‘The Word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart.’ That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you WILL be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” (Romans 10:8-10, emphasis added by me) That is God’s plan of salvation through Jesus. And as Jesus Himself has pointed out, there is NO other way. “I am THE Way, THE Truth and THE Life. No one comes to the Father but by ME.” (John 14:6, emphasis added by me). “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under Heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
Jesus desires to save us all and empower us to truly live real life in the here and now. “The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy; I have come that they might have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10) Jesus wants us to live a real, meaningful life every single day that we’re on this planet! He wants us to be truly alive in Christ, which enables us to really enjoy every gift that God has given us- which is everything! Every day, every sunrise, every sunset, every single breath- it’s all a gift from a loving and gracious God!
And we’re created to worship God. That’s the meaning of life- plain and simple. It’s not about us. It’s all about God! God desires to use us to love our neighbors and our enemies and tell them all about God’s love for everyone through our actions and words. And our salvation is forever! Jesus NEVER lets go of us! (John 6:37 and 10:29) And when it’s all over, we have an assured eternity with Jesus in Heaven! (And trust me, it’s gonna rock! Just check out Revelation 21-22! Woo hoo! 
) That’s the eternal hope that can leave us holding on to hope when everything in the world says to despair. This is the hope that can let us laugh in the face of death at funerals and dance at a wake. “Death’s not so scary. I don’t think it’s the end of anything- more like just another step along the way.” (MacGyver in “Passages”) And MacGyver’s right. For a Christian, death IS NOT scary- because it simply takes us into the presence of Jesus. It’s just that last step along the narrow way to Heaven! 
(1 Corinthians 15:54-58) The situation IS NOT hopeless. God has sent us hope in the person of Jesus Christ! His death and Resurrection is the ultimate MacGyverism- God used a cross and three nails and His spotless Lamb- the Lord Jesus to pull off the ultimate escape- escape from Hell and entry into Heaven! And that's it- a done deal! "Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him." (Hebrews 9:27-28) And God didn’t just use whatever was handy- He used the very best! “For He says, ‘In the time of My favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.’ I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:2) It IS a limited-time offer. Take Jesus up on it RIGHT NOW!!! There is NO greater choice you can ever make! I know I will NEVER be the same since I've accepted Jesus as Savior! He RULES (and I mean that literally! ;-))
Jesus loves you- and so do I, man.