Jesus Loves Me, So I'm Told...

     As a child, I loved going to Sunday school. It was a weekly break from everyday life and activities that provided me a chance to sing fun and meaningful songs, hear stories that were wildly imaginative about a God who made the world and everything in it in seven days with his bare hands, or a guy named Jesus that turned water into wine so everyone at the wedding he was attending could continue drinking. Jesus was a favorite among the characters that I was told about. I sang songs mostly about him and how he loves me. The song, "Jesus Loves Me" became a standard in my mental repertoire. My grandfather used to take me along on Sunday afternoon drives to visit his parents, and other friends. I would always be called upon to sing for everyone and usually "Jesus Loves Me" was the selection of choice that caused the old folks to "oooh and ahhh" over my cherubic vocal styling. It was a good song. Affirming. Faith-filled and full of assurance that my position was Bible-based. Yes, I LOVED this song. And I loved Jesus, too! Who wouldn't? After all... "Jesus Loves the Little Children!" and "Jesus Loves Me!" I believed it with no wavering.
     However, at about the age of five I began to get a better grasp on the relational dynamics of my church, and the expectations and commitment to certain standards they firmly believed must be followed if I was to remain in good standing with them AND God... AND Jesus. It doesn't take a small child long by over-hearing adult conversations to fully grasp the context of all they are speaking about. It became clear that partaking in such things as smoking, drinking alcohol, dancing, movies, TV, card games, immodest clothing, too much make-up and other such classified "worldliness" would quickly find any participant on the slippery slope to hell and out of fellowship with those who were already too sanctified to be tempted. And, at age five, I found myself in a moral and spiritual and mental dilemma. Something was different. I was facing a new paradigm. "Jesus Loves Me, So I'm Told..." had become the unspoken mantra and the ending "...This I Know!" had lost its ability to remain unshakable in light of the unfolding understanding of all it takes to maintain good standing.
     So, here it goes. My maternal grandfather ran a small tavern in a little town about two miles from our home. There were times that my mother would take an afternoon and go to her dad's business and help out to allow him a rest. Grandma had passed away a little over four years prior and life was hard. Not only did grandpa own the business and work there, he lived in a small apartment in the back. I loved going there. It was a fun place. Not much to look at from the outside, just a small, flat-roofed building sided with wavy "tin roofing" and therefore called, "The Tin Building." But inside it housed a bar, stage, hardwood dance floor and a juke-box. When mom went to help grandpa, he would pour me a Coke in a glass of ice and give me a handful of nickels to plug the juke-box. This kept me out of trouble and from bothering him or my mom when she was tending bar. It was cool. All my favorite songs were on his juke-box. The ones I loved to dance to. So, I'd spend time drinking my Coke, playing the juke-box and dancing by myself in front of the lighted machine on a real hardwood dance floor. Heaven...
     The dilemma came when, by listening to the conversation of those given to my oversight at church, I discovered that much of the activity going on in "The Tin Building" was not merely questionable, or suspect, but bold-faced, blatant and willful SIN. I came to understand that virtually ALL of the above quoted "sins" except for movies and TV could be found being shamelessly committed within those four walls. I take that back, Grandpa DID have a TV in the apartment. What's a five year old to do when, after singing, "Oh Be Careful Little Feet Where You Go!" on Sunday, only to be told a few days later, "C'mon, get in the car! We're going to Grandpa's!"
Surely my mother was in some kind of misinformed darkness about it all. I never spoke to her about any of this. She went to church on Sunday and worked in grandpa's tavern during the week, there was a serious disconnect somewhere. Certainly she heard the same list of rules that I had. No, I couldn't take this matter up with her. Some other and more authoritative voice would have to be consulted. I decided to ask my beloved Sunday school teacher, Churchie, about it all. She'd be straight-forward about it all with me. That's what she was there for. (Her real name was Mrs. Church. But I thought it had something to do with her personal uprightness, thereby being bestowed the honorary name, "Churchie.")
     The next Sunday I gingerly approached the saintly old matriarch, tugged on her skirt and said, "Churchie!"
"Yes?" she replied.
"Will Jesus go with me to the grocery store?" I asked innocently.
"Why, of course he will!" she answered.
"Will Jesus go with me to school?" I further inquired.
"Yes he will, sweetheart." she cooed lovingly. But I think she could see something else was behind my searching. You know, the trick question. The stumper.
"Will Jesus go with me to a TAVERN?" I blurted out with emphasis on the last word.
Churchie recoiled in horror as the blood drained out of her face, along with all former expression of love and kindness toward my questions. Her backbone became rigid as righteous indignation caused her to stiffen before taking on a more serious and holy position.
"ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!!" she exclaimed with the best authoritarian sound she could muster without causing too much disturbance among the rest.
"Oh... OK..." I said sheepishly, as I spun around and proceeded into my designated classroom.
     Therein was my dilemma. What is a five year old to do when he loves singing about Jesus, hearing the lessons and coloring the pictures of Noah's Arc, and his mother tells him to we're going to a den of iniquity for the afternoon? I could feel the flames of hell licking at my feet while Satan laughed with glee over the possibility of securing a new victim. I worried for days. Then came the testing of my faith.
     Later that week, when mom called me to get in the car to go to Grandpa's, I was ready to face the situation head-on. I had a plan. Considered all the options. It had to work. We arrived at The Tin Building, parked the car and got out, mom walking ahead of me. As she opened the old screen door and went inside I gave her a minute before following. When I got both feet on the step, I stopped, turned around, looked up to the sky and pointed my little index finger toward heaven and said, "Jesus... you wait right here and I'll be back in just a little while!" Then I spun around and proceeded to walk through the door with assurance that everything would be just fine. He either really loved me or he didn't. Life went on.
     At the early age of five, I learned several things from this experience. First of all, if I was going to continue to be in fellowship with church people who disagreed or disapproved of things I would be doing, I would have to live a life of pretense and be one way in their presence and another elsewhere when necessary. Or simply lie about my activities. The second thing I came to understand instinctively is that I would have to TRUST that, in spite of my inability to live by all the church rules, Jesus would love me anyway.
     The song, "Jesus Loves Me" can be presented to little ones as a solid eternal reality, and yet adults unwittingly complicate and confuse the simple truth by adding conditions and prerequisites that steal the song's foundational message from their minds and hearts. It becomes more like "Jesus Loves Me... So I'm Told" leaving the matter of keeping Jesus' love secured is based solely on our behavior and the vices from which we abstain. The truth that so desperately needs to be proclaimed in this day to children of all ages is the Good News that embraces God's provision of unmerited favor and grace to whosoever will, leaving the hearer with no response other than to believe and proclaim with absolute assurance... "Jesus Loves Me, THIS I KNOW!"

Drink deeply...

That In Me You Might Have Peace

     I just woke up from a dream. A sweet dream. I was in a church service and began sensing the Holy Spirit telling me to stand up and address the group on the topic of "Peace." The person in charge gave me the floor and I began to address those in attendance about the serious need for peace in our lives. The crowd was receptive to my words and as we began to sing the old song, "Peace Give I To Thee" the power of the Holy Spirit began ministering to people on an individual basis and great joy was released in the hearts of the believers. It was a sweet dream. I woke up singing the song in my head and recalling the heart-warming sense of God's presence that I had experienced. Made for a good start to the morning. Then, as I proceeded to get on with the routine of feeding the dogs, letting them out, making coffee, etc. I couldn't shake the fact that maybe the content of this dream wasn't just for me, but relevant and vital for someone else to reflect upon.
     As I began to meditate on it a bit more, I thought about all the things that normally one would consider, remember from books, or heard in a sermon at church or Sunday school, when the idea of peace takes center stage of ones mind. Everyone need peace. There is no one on the planet without the need for peace in some capacity. We seek peace personally, politically, socially, financially, materially, and spiritually. That is very telling about who we are collectively as people, friends, communities, and nations. Peace also plays a part of a craftily developed marketing scheme used through multi-media to bombard the population at large to get us to buy products. Actors in commercials portray everyday people like ourselves experiencing the "peace" that comes through the assurance of buying, or buying into, a particular insurance company, investment brokerage, law firm, medical product, clothing line, car company, or baby food. We like the "peace" that comes with knowing things are "covered" and that we've done all we can on our part to ensure our stake in this material world. We also seek peace among races and religions and governments and are met daily with blaring TV and Radio news coverage that keeps us all too aware of the deepening chasm that is keeping peace at a distance between all of these groups. Plus, it continues feeding the fear that, unless we do something drastic, the prospect for peace will soon be fatally crushed and it will be all our fault. Intensifying the anxiety in our lives and adding to our search for something to soothe it.
     The fact of the matter is that nothing is new under the sun. The Bible tells us story after story in Old and New Testaments about people seeking peace individually, collectively as groups, and as a nation, all the while dealing with the same basic issues of relationships, economics, politics, religion and race. It's the same story today as it always has been. Only the characters have changed. Jesus spoke to this very issue in his life and ministry because he saw the conflict in those around him daily who lived in fear of the Roman government occupying Israel. People who had once ruled themselves as a great sovereign nation under God, via the greatest set of laws ever given to mankind, now lived in fear of total political captivity by a barbaric pagan government who worshipped Caesar, a mere man, as "god." It was not only horrific political and religious oppression, but economically a hardship as well, paying taxes to Caesar AND Israel. Jesus was not out of the loop of the fight the Israeli zealot's were waging, trying to break free of Roman occupation and political domination. One would think that he would have righteously picked up a sword and joined the fight. After all, he preached about God's kingdom all the time and spoke of freedom and love. Hardly realistic under the present circumstances. Many wondered why Jesus didn't jump on the political bandwagon. Believing he could be the promised Messiah, working the miracles they saw him do, why wasn't he fulfilling the promise of Israel's restoration? Wouldn't that finally bring "peace"?
     But Jesus was speaking of something different. In John 14:27 Jesus said, "I am leaving you with a gift - peace of mind and heart! And the peace I give isn't fragile like the peace the world gives. So don't be troubled or afraid."  Jesus wasn't getting on the bandwagon of something this world offers, like politics, religion, economics, law firms, banks, insurance, car manufacturers, or baby food. Jesus was offering the real deal. Peace that passes understanding that comes from one place and one place alone. A GIFT FROM GOD. Jesus knew that everything in this world fails. The old saying, "God is in the details." might be good for an element of mental security when trying to be resourceful and tying up loose ends, but the best attempts at securing our lives and futures can be met with a swift and immediate downturn, bringing the best plans to an end. I know a faithful minister of the Gospel whose retirement plan of nearly $1 million dollars was reduced overnight to $90 thousand dollars when the stock market fell after the 9/11 attacks on New York City. That kind of loss to ones collected savings as they were approaching retirement would need more than a new plan. Security was in place from years of hard work and saving and investing and then, in a split second, lost. Certainly a sense of "peace" would be in order. A different KIND of peace. The peace they had in place is exactly the "world peace" that Jesus was speaking of. Sometimes it helps, sometimes it fails. Jesus wanted to offer the kind that doesn't. We are all too familiar with the "peace" that falls short of meeting our expectations. Jesus wasn't condemning the wisdom of saving, investing, etc. The peace that DOESN'T fail will not come from our saving, buying, investing, procuring, hoarding, storing, sensible eating habits, vitamin taking, or hard work. It comes as a free gift from God that is invested into the core of your being for such times as when the "world peace" we have WORKED FOR fails us. Or when we get a doctors report that might crush our future expectations and ruin our savings. There IS a peace that "passes understanding" which allows us to know that we are, and always will remain, God's responsibility until everything that He has planned for us is finished. The promise doesn't imply that we are somehow exempt from the calamities that come from living in a broken world, or a body that is dying because of sin. It gives us the assurance that nothing can separate us from His love and keep Him from bringing us to Himself when all is said and done. No slip up, mistake, error, bad judgment call, offense or the worst of sins can change His everlasting love for us. The curse of the Law and its decrees that was written against us has been nailed to a cross and broken. By knowing that fact we remain in a place of understanding God's provision that gives us a better covenant with better promises.
    When it SEEMS that everything the world promises to bring us as a personal, material, social, religious and political security begins to lose its foundation beneath us, which we believed was stable, there is a gentle reminder that comes in the form of a still small voice speaking to the depths of our innermost being saying, "These things have I spoken to you, that you might have peace...."  (John 16:33) Be wise and do the things you need to do with your time and resources. No one thinks these are foolish. But don't be worse than foolish and refuse the GIFT of PEACE that only comes freely from God, who Himself is the only thing that doesn't change and remains stable, faithful, loving and present in this life. He knows what we need and has made something far more secure available simply for the asking. Receive His peace...

Drink deeply...