Better Than Candy?

The best thing that has ever been said about me went something like this, “You are like a kid in a candy store when you talk about God.” It gives me happy, warm fuzzy feelings when I think about it. And anyone who really knows me knows that happy, warm fuzzy feelings are not something I experience or speak about with any consistency or very frequently.

Why would words like that mean so much? I think it is because I am kind of purpose driven and in those words I can catch a glimpse of my purpose. “Talk about Me with the excitement of a little kid who has just been loosed in a candy store - with a limitless debit card and the PIN.” Now, oddly enough, I am not a huge fan of candy. Some days, chocolate and I get along and I have a weakness for jujubes and sour dinosaurs, maybe wine gums, but otherwise, not really a fan. It makes my teeth feel funny.

However, I have two children who do love candy. Obsessively some might think. They get wiggly dreaming about it or the possibility of obtaining it. They hoard it when they do have it. They will spend their hard earned money on it, they will consume it in huge amounts or sometimes savour it sparingly. And if they offer you some, you know you are special.

And really, could there be a more perfect picture of how we should love God? 

I don't obsess about candy, but I can see why someone would. It kind of stimulates all our senses. Lots of times it is really pretty, and in a candy store, all the colours lined up, the different shapes and massive variety. Oh my eyes! And the smells, especially anything lemony. Some candy, like pop rocks, even make noise! And then of course....the taste. Candy covers it all.

I see a sunset or a tank full of colourful fish, oh my eyes! There is something about the smell of fall, even though I don't like the cold, that makes me feel content. An uplifting song and the taste of a peach. God's creation covers it all.

But then there is HIM. I seriously get these intense shivers when I think about certain descriptions of Him. Beaten and subdued on the cross makes me sad and sometimes angry. But this:

 “His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:

king of kings and lord of lords.”

(Revelation 19:12-16, NIV)

Do you feel the power rolling off that? If you do not, I am praying that someday you will, because there is nothing like it. I have made many misguided attempts at conjuring false, fuzzy warm feelings but nothing feels like the power that rolls off those words....

Sorry, that got a little more intense than candy right there. But that is what happens around Him.

There is a lot of 'delighting' that is suggested in the Bible. Delight yourself in the Lord, delight yourself in His law to love others, He delights in us, He delights in you. Candy is definitely delightful. But delightful doesn't quite cover that power thing, I will admit. That just slays you -.

Anyway, I think I delight most in thoughts of the next heaven and the next earth, because things will feel more right there. Maybe, if there is candy, it will not make my teeth feel funny. But mostly it will be great because of the no tears, crying, mourning or pain part. Not to mention the things that no eye has seen, no ear heard, no mind conceived. Because, come on, can we get better than the sound of pop rocks? Better than candy?

And to always be in the presence of THAT POWER? Not just get little blips of it once in a while? Oh my heart!

If you think I am aiming to entice you, like a little kid trying to get mom or dad to come explore the candy store, you would be right. I think that's my purpose. I am trying to entice you to think about a relationship with Jesus. Because truly connecting heart to heart with that power source will make here much more bearable - and will assure you experience next. It will be worth it. 

Better than candy.

Christianity, Christian

Christianity, Christian – words that have become loaded. Words that conjure up feelings of judgment, rules, stuffiness, harshness, cruelty, etc., etc. And it makes a weird sense that this has happened. There is an enemy of all human souls. An enemy that wants to kill and destroy. And there is a Saviour, who wants to love and cherish and build up. So what better plan than for the enemy to make the Saviour appear the enemy? And humans have wittingly or unwittingly aided and abetted that plan in myriad ways.

So now, when most people hear either of those words, love and life do not immediately spring to mind. This world right now is under the dominion of the enemy, but it is not completely in his control and our Maker has not abandoned it. The glimpses of beauty and goodness that we manage to see amidst the dark and evil are Him – The Maker. And they are but a glimmer of what is to come.

And probably, that should be the role of those of us calling ourselves Christians, or Christ followers or Jesus followers, or you pick. To point out that beauty, to be that goodness and to tell people of the more to come. Especially to tell people of the more to come.

There is a trick to this. In order to enjoy the more to come, a person does HAVE to believe that Jesus is, and that He is who He says He is, the son of God. But really, that is not much. To imagine that God would come to us in human form and sacrifice Himself so that we could be in His presence is not a big stretch when compared to other things we imagine.

And humans can imagine. Watch a movie. Any movie. Read a book. Any book. Listen to a song. Any song. Imagine, imagine, imagine.

That sounds like a demand doesn't it? “Believe in Me” if you want to spend eternity well. And no doubt, it is. And mostly we don't like to be demanded of. And if we do make the choice to believe, other things will be demanded of us. Love people, be kind to people even if it is hard, stop doing things that are damaging to yourself and others, encourage people, then more believing and imagining.

So let's count the cost of meeting those demands, submitting to those demands. It is very likely that in our attempts to love others, we will be rejected and disparaged, but when that is held against the “well done” of He who formed everything, or our place in a new earth and new heaven, rejection and disparagement seem slightly less significant. We can love Him, because He first loved us, enough to die for us, so that this life is only temporary and the best one is guaranteed.

Christianity, Christian – they are just words. Jesus, The Name, THE WORD, is an action, a glorious imagining, the way to a brilliant eternity. Say the WORD, believe in the WORD, experience the struggles, flip the bird at the enemy - then reap the ultimate rewards.

Who wouldn't want to reap the ultimate rewards?

“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”” John 14:6-7 (NIV)

“Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”” John 6:29 (NIV)

P.S. - I kind of stole the flip the bird part from a song by Kip Moore called “The Bull”. There is one line: “Sure feel good to laugh when I look back and flip the bull the bird.” I can honestly see us all doing that to the devil when this ride is over.

I Wish You Desperation

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to wake up and see Jesus standing there at the end of my bed.

He'd be smiling and the sun would be shining. The breeze coming in the window would be warm, the birds would be chittering. I would be a little bit groggy but wouldn't be achy. I would marvel at that for a moment. I wouldn't care about my bedhead really, but I might be worried whether or not the t-shirt I was wearing had holes in it. I think I would sit up, but I wouldn't get out of the bed. For some reason, I picture myself being cozy when Jesus is standing in the room.

I think I would expect Him to start a conversation. And, as much as I'd love for Him to tell me that I was going to do something amazing in the world with Him, and that throughout the whole process I wouldn't be stressed or freaked out, I think for real He would ask me this:

“Who do you think I am?”

Now, the reasonable answer would be, “Jesus, and You are standing at the end of my bed. And that is all kinds of awesome.”

I think His response to that might be, “Yes, but who do you think I AM?”

“Son of God, Lord of Hosts, King of Kings, Prince of Peace? Come on Jesus, this could go on all day....”

“Who do YOU think I AM?”

He'd fade away and I would be stumped, because as much as I have read about Him and studied about Him and talked about Him, and tried to serve Him, do I really know Him yet?

I have always understood that as the goal, but lately, instead of thinking about it as something I have to do - really knowing Jesus, what He thinks, how He feels - is starting to become something I really want to do. There is a strange desperation, it is going to be hard to breath if I don't find out.

What about you? Who do YOU think HE IS?

I wish you desperation...