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If you haven’t seen “The Blind Side,” stop reading right now, run to the nearest theater and buy a ticket.

Popcorn is optional, although I highly recommend it — with a healthy portion of liquid butter.

I am a Sandra Bullock fan and tend to enjoy both sports movies and movies that tug at my heartstrings, but the overt Christian message of this movie pleasantly surprised me.

As Charisma magazine described it:

The Blind Side, starring Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw, is undeniably inspirational. At a recent screening, many viewers were openly in tears.

But Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy, the Christian couple at the center of the film that opens Friday, hope the story of how they adopted a homeless black teenager who eventually became a first-round NFL draft pick does more than make people cry.

“We hope people walk out of the theater and want to do something for someone else,” said the couple’s daughter, Collins Tuohy.

Based on the true story of Baltimore Ravens rookie Michael Oher, The Blind Side — rated PG-13 for language, violence and depictions of drug use — chronicles how a handful of Christians helped change the life of a teen growing up in inner-city Memphis, Tenn.

Terry Mattingly of Scripps Howard News Service also wrote a wonderful column exploring the Christian angle:

The key is that expressions of faith were a natural part of this true story, said actress Sandra Bullock, who plays Leigh Anne. No one was faking anything.

“This family, they were themselves for no other benefit other than because they wanted to reach out, lend a hand, and had no idea that they would get a son in return,” she told reporters, after a press screening of “The Blind Side.” Bullock said that, while making the movie, she regained a little “faith in those who say they represent a faith. … I’ve finally met people that walk the walk.”

This movie is James 1:27 adapted to the big screen. This is Christianity in action, even if the people making it happen are flawed and imperfect — just like real Christians.

One of the most compelling parts of the movie, to me, is when the football coach argues that the Christian school should accept Michael Oher in spite of his poor grade-point average. Not because of his size and athletic prowess, the coach says, but “because it’s the right thing to do.”

Now, this scene is compelling because the coach is saying the right thing, but it seems pretty obvious — based on a later scene — that football really was his motivation in pushing for Big Mike’s admission. Yet, admitting this student is the right thing, and the school does the right thing, even if not for entirely pure motives.

Which, in my mind, raises the question: How often does God use people doing the right thing for the wrong reason(s) to fulfill his purposes? Does this ever happen in my own life?

2 Corinthians 9:7 says:

Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

But what if I can’t give cheerfully? My friend David Duncan says I should go ahead and give anyway. I may not be blessed myself, but at least the money can be used to bless others for God’s purposes.

Alas, I have veered way off course, but this is a movie that not only entertains you but causes you to reflect.

Go and see it. Now.

— Bobby