Jesus Shows Up At A Theme Park

I used to think the Christian life was primarily an exercise in sin management, similar to the old fashioned Whack-A-Mole game. You remember it, don't you? The console has 7 holes, out of which mole heads randomly pop up. Your goal is to whack them with a mallet before they go back into hiding. In the same way, I used to go through each day watching out for "sins" to pop up. When they did, I would try to shove them under the surface before anyone could see them.

The Christian journey is intended to be much more than a game of sin management. It can be compared to someone trying to enjoy a day at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. Imagine you are there right now. You find yourself in one of those cheap game rooms, filled with all sorts of electronic games. You have a pocket full of tokens and you’re walking around the room, looking for a good game to play. The first one you see lets you race a car on the Nurburgring in Germany. Another lets you fly an F-18 Superhornet into the heart of enemy territory and destroy a major communications facility. But then something catches your attention. It’s an old fashioned Whack-A-Mole game. This seems really lame compared to the other games in the room, but something deep inside compels you to go give it a whirl.

The next thing you know, moles are popping up everywhere and you are whacking away like a mad man. But as you’re whacking, you notice something unusual. Each mole that pops up has a name, and the names are the sins that are constantly popping up in your life. Anger, envy, pride, jealousy…they’re popping up over and over and you are trying to whack them and get them to go away. All of a sudden, you sense someone standing next to you watching. You turn and see Jesus!

At first you’re startled and say, “Jesus! What are you doing here?”

With a look of bewilderment he replies, “Watching you whack moles.”

All of a sudden, jealousy pops up and you quickly turn to whack it. Then anger and pride. And again…bam! Bam! Then lust pops up. You shout, “Jesus, don’t look!” BAM!

Jesus just shakes his head and says, “Why are you doing that?”

With shame written all over your face you say, “Well, I don’t want you to see these things. I know how displeased you are when you see all this.”

Jesus starts to grin, and gives you a big “I’ve got this covered” wink. He walks around to the back of the game, reaches down, and unplugs it. He turns back to you and says, “That should take care of that. Now what do you want to do?”

You are simply dumbfounded and say, “Is that all there is to it?”

He says, “Well, no, not completely. I know how these machines work and sometimes, even with the power turned off, the moles still pop up. It’s what Paul referred to in Romans as the deeds of the flesh. You see, your flesh has died, but the deeds of the flesh still pop up every now and then. It’s just like when a person’s body twitches, or even sits up after they have died. Reminds me of that Ray Stevens song…I ain’t sittin’ up with the dead no more since the dead started sittin’ up too!”

He starts singing that tune, snapping his fingers in rhythm, and you say, “Jesus! Stop! This isn’t funny!”

He replies, “Oh. Sorry. Sometimes I just get carried away with humor. Back to business. Now what I want to know is why you are spending your time here, whacking moles, when you and I could be out riding the Hulk together? Did you know that thing launches you up at over 40 miles an hour, and then you go screaming along the track, upside down and rightside up, until you almost black out? Man is it fun…sure beats whacking moles!”

You are just stunned. “Are you for real? I’m standing here trying to deal with all the sin in my life and you just want to go out and have fun? Incredible!”

And he looks you straight in the face, and with tears in his eyes, and an incredibly gentle smile on his face, he says, “My child, I’ve already dealt with the sins in your life. And if they still pop up every now and then, you and I can deal with that together. But I came to do more than just deal with your sin. I came to give you life. I want to see your heart come alive. Nothing would bring me more joy than for the rest of the day, you and I go enjoy all these wonderful rides together. How about it, can you leave the moles behind and just come enjoy the day with me?”

And that is the invitation to you and me. He doesn’t say to just ignore your sins. But he does say it is by walking with Him, walking in His Spirit, that we will put to death the deeds of the flesh. His laws have been written on a new heart that has been deeply planted within us. His greatest longing and His loving invitation is to walk in fellowship with him. The last thing he wants is for us to be so pre-occupied in sin management, whacking the moles, that we miss the joy of simple intimacy with him.