Daily Devotional – I’m Normal.™ I AM Ministries
“To promote Godly living in a culture committed to destroying it”
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Football Fantasy
The comic strip “Peanuts” has many recurring situational themes. Among these are Snoopy engaging the Red Baron, Linus obsessing over his blanket, Schroeder at his piano, and Pigpen messing up a room. One of my favorite situations is the inevitably doomed interaction between Charlie Brown and Lucy where she proposes to hold the football in place for Charlie Brown to kick. It never fails – Lucy breaks her promise.
Charles Schultz professed to be a Christian man and frequently tackled spiritual issues through the eyes of children. I can’t help wondering if he saw any symbolism in this cartoon recurring scenario, because this classic comic strip scene seems to imitate a classic Christian confrontation between man and his tempter – there’s something we want to do badly, but are efforts are always thwarted.
Symbolically, Lucy is playing the role of the tempter and deceiver, Satan. Whereas it is no sin to want to kick a football, her process has a form similiar to Satan’s temptations of us all. Lucy begins by putting a tempting idea in Charlie Brown’s head – “Why don’t I hold the football while you come running up and kick it?” She knows when she asks that she will trick Charlie Brown. In the Garden of Eden, Satan put a tempting idea in Eve’s head – “You will not surely die.” (Genesis 3:4). Satan also knew his question was a trick.
Charlie Brown knows the history and the inevitable outcome with his tempter, just as we know our sin always brings guilt. Every time Lucy proposes this activity, she deceives Charlie Brown, even though he is not sinning. This process is analogous to how Satan tempts us. He proposes we do something we know will end in a sinful act, but the temptation is too hard to resist.
At first Charlie Brown rejects the offer, as he should, and as we should with sin. “I wouldn’t try that for a million dollars! You won’t hold it! You’ll pull it away and I’ll kill myself!”, he says. This is also our proper response to Satan’s proposals. We should reject Satan’s advances and put them out of our mind. This is the example Jesus taught us during His temptation in the desert when He cried, “Away from me, Satan!” (Matthew 4:10) or when Peter refused to believe Jesus’ prediction of His death, “Get behind me, Satan!” (Matthew 16:23).
Satan, however, is persistent, and so is Lucy in the cartoon. “Waaah! You don’t trust me!” she cries, appealing to human emotion. “You think I’m no good! You have no faith in me!” This is the classic response of the deceiver to our rejection. He doesn’t let us simply walk away, he persists with his enticements, just as he did with Eve in the Garden of Eden. He uses lies, deceptions, guilt, confusion, false promises, offers of pleasure, and anything else he can. His objective is to get us to take our eyes off God’s ways and to fall for the evils of sin.
As usual, Charlie Brown falls for the lie. He agrees to kick the ball and once again falls flat on his back, frustrated and embarassed. As usual, he doesn’t see the trap coming until it’s too late to do anything about it. Just as he reaches the football, when he’s running at full speed and has reached the point of no return, Lucy pulls away the football. He cries out “Aaugh!” in his anguish and comes down with a bone-jarring “Wump!”. Deceived once again!
Have you ever been deceived more than once by Satan’s enticing lies and promises? Many have succumbed when he told them that just one little drink wouldn’t hurt you? Or that no one will find out about that out-of-town fling – “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas”? Or that this time it’s a sure bet and there’s no way to lose? Or that everyone fibs on their taxes? What will be your response the next time he tempts you after you have already a history of falling for his lies?
Jesus is our model for dealing with the devil. He showed us it is normal to reject Satan’s every advance and to put his propositions out of our minds lest we fall into sin again and again. Satan isn’t always looking for new ways to tempt you, he’s often quite happy to use something he knows has worked in the past, something he can convince you to do repeatedly until it destroys the relationship you have with God and Jesus Christ.
Charlie Brown never learned and always ended up a “fallen man”. His desire was always more powerful than his conviction. This defeat does not have to be the case for Christians, however. Jesus shows us how we need to put the devil behind us. We are told to flee from sin (2 Timothy 2:22). God promises to provide a way out of any temptation, no matter how strong (1 Corinthians 10:13). We have been given free choice with relation to sin. Will you make the normal, Godly choice today or will you be like Charlie Brown and end up a fallen man or woman again?
In His love and service,
Jeff Myers
A servant of Jesus Christ
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