Freedom In A Cup

My kids loved the movie Open Season. One of their favorite lines from the movie is when Elliot drinks some coffee that he found in the dumpster and says, “(sip) ew. (sip) Ew. (sip) EW! (flying off the handle with the jolt of caffeine) It’s terrible and wonderful at the same time! It’s freedom in a cup!!!”

Now, being the coffee connoisseur I am, that line has stuck with me. It also could be that all three of my kids have taken turns quoting this line in character, oh, let’s say a hundred times or so, but whatever the case, it’s an interesting line….

Although with no comedic tone, I say something similar in my mind almost every time I read the following verse in each of the gospel accounts:

“He went away a second time and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is not

possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it,

may Your will be done.’”

Matthew 26:42

Ew. Talk about being terrible and wonderful at the same time.

Terrible for Jesus, wonderful for us.

Terrible that He knew how painful it would be to die on the cross.

Wonderful that He did the will of the Father anyway.

The cup of obedience to death meant freedom to live for us.

“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

John 8:36

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.

Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened

again by a yoke of slavery.”

Galatians 5:1

What should we do with this freedom then? LIVE like we’ve been freed, that’s what! Before we were slaves to sin, now we’re not if we are saved ones. It says so in 1 Corinthians 10:13: “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”

See? Even when we’re tempted by sin, we’ve been given the power and the freedom to escape it. Can I hear an Amen? Raise the roof!

What cup has He given you to drink right now?

Are you willing to submit your will to His will?

Can you find the wonderful in the midst of the "ews" of your circumstances?

Remember His cup and ponder your own each time you sip your terrible but wonderful at the same time java (or tea) each morning. It’s so easy to keep the knowledge of our Savior’s sacrifice tucked away in the corner of our minds, but if we reflect on it day after day, it will surely soak in and change us from the inside out as a result. As we receive pleasure according to His will, let's thank Him. As we endure pain according to His will, let's follow Christ’s example.

Let’s live, breathe and obey in freedom as FREED ones, friends. It’s the only thing better than a coffee buzz.

“For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead,

He cannot die again;

death no longer has mastery over Him.

The death He died, He died to sin once for all;

but the life He lives, He lives to God.

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin

but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

Romans 6:9-11

A Walk In The Park

“This is MY swing!” yelled the boy, pushing the little girl into the gravel. As she began to cry over her throbbing skinned knee, the boy took his seat on the swing, pumping higher and higher into the air. “Wheeeee! I’m the king of the wooooorrrrrrrrrrrlllllllllllD!!!” he declared.

The boy’s mom sat oblivious on the bench nearby chattering away on her cell phone. The girls’ daddy came quickly to scoop her up, holding her close to his chest. In between hysteric whimpers, she poured out her pain to him: “He (gasp) pushed (sniff) me (snort) Daddy (full out bawl).” He tenderly replied, “I know, sweetheart, I saw the whole thing. It’s okay now, you’re safe.”

All of a sudden, the dad did something that surprised all those watching. He lifted his daughter up onto his shoulders. At first, she whined, “No, daddy, I’m scared.” He assured her that she was secure, so she tried to sit up straight, leaning forward and holding on to his chin at first. The man turned into a boy that moment, changing from a walk in the park to a giddy-up, jig-jagged gallop around the park with her, to which the little one couldn’t help but giggle. As he grasped her legs firmly around his neck, she began to sit up completely straight, shoulders back and chest out. “I’m the luckiest girl in the WoooooooooorrrrrrrlllllllllllD,” she shrieked with delight, throwing her arms completely outstretched in the air. She was safe and free at last.

This is the picture of the Christian life, friends. Sometimes, we’re feeling blessed along the way, kind of like a trip to the park—from tire swing, to slide, to see saw, to sand. And it’s a lot of fun. Then an enemy comes along (sometimes it’s even a friend) and pushes us down, causing us not only a skinned knee, but a wounded heart in the process. But our Father is so loving and so compassionate that He scoops us up and lifts us high above the pain to experience His safety and the pleasure that stems from it.

Even Job understood this in the middle of his horrific pain (5:11): “The lowly He sets on high, and those who mourn are lifted to safety.” What a beautiful reminder for the times when we are hurt or persecuted, even if we’re not sure why we’re experiencing it.

Did you notice that we don’t know how the story above got its start? Was the little girl racing for the swing excitedly after finding it in her view? Perhaps she was just standing in the way of the swing. OR, did she push the boy first as she tried to get the swing for herself? We have no idea if she was innocent or just as selfish as the boy, do we? This matters to us, because in our minds, if it were her fault, then surely the same response from her dad would not be warranted. That’s the thing about God….His ways are SO not our ways, are they?

“The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will He harbor His anger forever; He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him; for He knows how we are formed, He remembers that we are dust.”
Psalm 103:8-14

God wants us to see that from His perspective is a whole other view of our circumstances. He remembers how we were formed by His hands….He knows we are not perfect as He is--that we are going to mess up in our human dustiness. Because of this flawless memory and this abounding love, His comfort and security are available to us no matter what we’ve done. It is the forgiveness and grace that comes from the trust we placed in Jesus Christ to make the sacrifice for our sins, as well as the sins of others. Praise the Lord!

Which person in the park are you right now? The pusher? The pushed down? The one on the cell phone? The one scooping up the hurting? The specatator? The one enjoying the slide on the other side? From that grid, let’s take a moment to picture the characteristics of God from the verses above and apply them to our hearts. We could be any of them from one day to the other, and God has something in it for us no matter—so let’s allow Him, our King of the wooorrrrrrrrld, to minister to us and others through our own walk in the park today. Amen.


In the Key of HE,

Picture-Perfect Suh-WEET

I had a much-needed night out last night. My mother-in-law took me to dinner and the movies. It was perfect: yummy food and drink at the restaurant with a table outside. Strolling through the mall to the movies at a slow pace. Getting into the theatre a whole fifteen minutes early, enjoying humorous laughter and people-watching, all from the best middle seats in the theatre. So relaxed...picture-perfect.

Then the previews began, lots of them, and we were settled in nicely for the feature presentation. The movie began, and we were puzzled. What a strange beginning for a chick flick, I thought. Seconds later, people all over the theatre began to look around, got up and started walking out.

I asked my mother-in-law if she thought a bunch of people had planned a walk-out, because so many were getting up all around the theatre and leaving at the same time. Then it occurred to us. "We're in the wrong movie." So with the mass, we exited, only to be stopped outside the theatre telling us to go back in.

We weren't IN the wrong movie. They had STARTED the wrong movie. So elbowing back through the herd we went, miraculously managing to find our perfect seats still available without earning too big of a bruise in the side.

Our picture-perfect night had been paused, but just for a moment. The movie workers came in and gave us all free vouchers for a free movie ticket, free coke and free popcorn on our next visit. Suh-WEET!  The actual film we saw after all the mayhem was actually quite dull in comparison to the events leading up to it.

Isn't that just like life sometimes? We're walking along and things are pretty ideal. Picture perfect. Then someone or something shows up and changes the scene, usually in an unfavorable way. Instead of waiting on the problem to go away or facing it, we find ourselves trying to escape from it all together. We follow the ways of the world, looking for a way back into our favorable plot, even if we have to go from theatre to theatre looking for it.

If we had left that movie theatre in disgust and not followed the workers' advice to turn around and go back, we would have missed the free movie and popcorn tickets. We would have missed a good laugh down the road. And I would have missed an opportunity to make a blog out of it. ;)

If I try to find an escape for the problems that come my way, I could miss blessings of another kind: the big picture kind. Suh-WEET!