The Gumby Delusion

For those of you old enough you might remember the claymation (i.e. CGI before CGI) children's character named Gumby. This little clay guy would walk around with his clay horse, get into trouble, eventually get smashed but survive and go on to give a moral lesson. I watched this around the same time a yellow bird and a trash can monster taught me my ABC's. It's a wonder I don't need therapy.

But looking back it fascinates me that people actually took the time to make a show that entailed bending this Gumby character hundreds of times to get him to look like he was moving on film. Bend him here. Take a shot. Pop a Prozac. Then repeat (way too many times for my taste). The end product was the illusion that this little Playdo dude was moving along on his own volition.

What floors me even more is that people attempt to do God the same way. How might you ask? By thinking that He is nothing more than a Being up in heaven, sitting on a throne, with a long beard, with a voice like Charlton Heston that we can bend this way and that to get what we want. There is a slight (ha) problem with this thinking. The last time I checked God was sovereign and that means He bends to no one's will other than His own. If our will and His will collide, our will doesn't get up like Gumby and go on. The Bible emphatically teaches this and yet recently a bunch of theology hack jobs have spouted off that God is bound to give us what we ask for in faith. If you believe that you probably believe that Gumby answers 'his' own fan mail. Lets take a look at some verses that are twisted to give this perception:

"⁷"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ⁸For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." (Matthew 7:7, 8)

^"21Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done. ²²If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."

(Matthew 21:21, 22)

By taking these out of context some people say that if you go to God in prayer and ask something of Him He is bound to give it to you so long as you have 'enough faith'. Yeah, and maybe Gumby will run for president. No, No, No! God is not a cosmic vending machine that has to answer your prayers if you put in the correct spiritual change! What if I had enough faith that God would drop a piano on everyone's head who reads this? Do you think God would honor that? If your hiding under your desk you really, really need to be biblically schooled. Lets take a look further in Matthew chapter 7, say verses 9-11 to put this into context:

^"9Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? ¹¹If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him!"

Notice how it says 'good gifts'? It wouldn't take a nuclear physicist to deduce that a father who gave his two year child a king cobra as a gift would likely not get 'The World's Greatest Dad' award. God, likewise, knows infinitely more about what is and isn't good for us. That means that we will most certainly NOT get everything we ask for in prayer. You praying for something contrary to His word? You mad at God for not giving you what you want verses what you need? You think God owes it to you to answer your prayers? Well my friend it sounds as your suffering from the Gumby Delusion.

In His Grip,

James

Would you wash my feet?

"3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under His power, and that He had come from God and was returning to God; 4 so He got up from the meal, took off His outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around His waist. 5 After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash His disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around Him." (John 13:3-5 NIV)

Personally I don't like feet. Not even my own. I don't like supermodel feet. I don't like your feet, sorry but I don't. There are strange people in the world and none are stranger than those who have foot fetishes. Before you decry that this is an overreaction, let me pose this question to you. Would you go on the street and touch complete strangers feet? I thought so. Feet just have that connotation of being unclean. It was even more of a big deal in the day and age when Jesus washed His disciples feet.

It was common knowledge that only two people touched your feet: you yourself and if you were wealthy enough to afford it, your lowliest servant in the house. To request that someone wash your feet would have been a huge social fopaw and an insult of the highest degree. A king would never wash their own feet let alone that of their own servants.

Yet, this is exactly what the King of Glory, the Lord of Lord's did during this special dinner with His disciples. If you were to read further in the text you would see Peter balk at the idea of his Rabbi washing his feet. Jesus told him, 'Unless I wash you, you have no part of Me'. Peter relented. Jesus came to serve. Jesus came to cleanse and without His cleansing we will have no part in Him.

He served you and I by becoming a sacrifice on the cross of Calvary. And while He may have never washed our feet, He cleansed our souls with a substance infinitely more valuable than water: His own blood. Having been made clean He expects us to serve. Listen what He says of this event:

"12 When He had finished washing their feet, He put on His clothes and returned to His place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” He asked them. 13 “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16 I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them." (John 13:12-17 NIV)

Service is our duty. How can we say that we won't serve the world for Jesus when He withheld nothing to make us clean? I hope you would wash my feet. And as much as I hate feet, come by anytime and I'd be glad to wash yours in His Name.

In His Grip,

James