Pinocchio

I was invited to speak at a shelter last week. Blessed and excited I headed up to Cititeam ministries in Chester to share what God laid on my heart. I was so impressed with the quality and function of the place. They serve a large number of the poor and homeless in the city. Tough area, but tender crowd, at least several of the ones I spoke with. Eight-teen men in the program, getting clean, studying the Word, and working hard to stay clean in an environment and area that does not support or encourage them. But the ministry does. I was really humbled to look out at the faces of the men and women, more than 50 I would guess, to see many hungry hearts. I ran through my little talk and sat down. Then someone yelled up, "Hey lady, aren't you gonna bless our meal?" So I stood up and prayed. We stood for a few more mintues waiting to be called into the dining area and one of the woman stood up and asked to sing a song. She picked up the hymnal and started singing out Blessed Assurance. During their meal Rich and I had the opportuniity to walk around and ask them if they needed prayer and just talk with a few of them. I was very aware of the abundance of my life and I wondered if I would walk in the joy that I saw in several of these folks if I was homeless. I hope I don't have to find out, but I know that the joy and peace that is deeper than circumstance is real. I have experienced in other ways and I saw it in the faces of my brothers and sisters at Cititeam Tues. evening. This is the message I brought to them.

Anyone familiar with the child’s tale of Pinocchio, at least the Disney movie? It is an old Italian tale of a kind but lonely toy maker who creates a special puppet and imagines it’s his son. A good fairy comes and gives the puppet life but he remains a wooden boy. In the story Pinocchio longs to be real and tries and struggles to do the right thing. Time after time he tries but fails. Even when he tries to be good, somehow he still gets into trouble.

Can you see yourself in this story? I can. I spent years feeling like I was not real, like no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t be good enough; I couldn’t measure up. I thought I had to meet the rules head on and be perfect, and when I couldn’t, when I failed over and over, I began to see that I wasn’t good enough, I couldn’t be good enough. I was always going to be a failure. It felt like although there were “no strings on me” I was nothing more than a puppet.

Now like Pinocchio, I made my own choices even if I wasn’t “real”. I made naïve, sometimes misinformed and sometimes totally rebellious “I don’t care what you think” stupid choices. And like Pinocchio I found myself in a place that was supposed to be “Pleasure Island” only to find out that it was actually a place of torment and punishment.

I also thought of myself as a reflection. You know the things you sort of see in water or a window. It’s you, but not really. It’s there, but not really. It does everything you do, but not really. That’s how I saw myself. Just a reflection of someone or something more real. I didn’t know who I was or what value I had. Like Pinocchio the reflection of me wasn’t real either. In fact, with just a breeze or a smattering of rain the image changed, disappeared, or became distorted.

God sees past the reflections of our lives to the reality and he knows that while “we are dust”, we are His dust; created with purpose and to be His treasure. Remember old Geppetto? He loved the little wooden boy even with the ears and tales and after all the bad Pinocchio had done. In fact, he loved him so much he went to find him and rescue him. We have a heavenly Father who also came to find us in the form of His Son. He didn’t care that we had grown donkey ears and tails from being mean or nasty and he didn’t care that our noses were impossibly long from the lies we had told and lived. He didn’t even care that we are dust. He cared that we are His and that we needed rescuing.

In the book of Ephesians, chapter 2 verse 10 Paul writes, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” The word workmanship in the Greek is poiema. It is the word from which we get our English word poem. It carries the connotation of something precious or artistic, a piece of art. That is how God sees you, a priceless creation of His work that is worth dying for. This is one of my healing verses. When I doubt my value or hear the old song that I am just a reflection, just a Pinocchio, I quote this verse to myself. I was created with purpose (good works, prepared in advance) and I was created a precious piece of Hand-of-God made art, and best of all I was created in Christ Jesus, so there is eternal value in me. Since I was created in Him and I am a new creature in Christ, I don’t have to “measure up” and I have more freedom than I ever knew was possible before. So I can honestly sing, “There are no strings on me!”

There is another verse that made a difference for me also. In the book of Isaiah the prophet spent the first part of the book outlining everything that people of Judah had done wrong and pronouncing judgment. But in the end of the book he outlines Gods plan for restoration and gives some of the clearest words about the Messiah, the Christ. In chapter 49 verse 16 he writes, “Would a nursing mother forget her child? Yet, even if she forgets, I will never forget you. I have carved you into the palm of my hands and your walls are continually before me.” And then a little more than 700 years later Christ came and did that literally. When he received the nails he carved you into the palm of his hands. Marks he carries into eternity. Those who enter eternity knowing him will find they are healed, completed, whole in a way that isn’t possible here. But when we look at him we will see the marks of love that will be a continual reminder of the cost of his love for you.

He came, he rescued, he carries the reminder of the cost, but he never ever insists we receive any of it. That’s the point. We are not puppets, we are not reflections, we are poetic expressions of his love, we are his treasures, and he has done everything he can to make that relationship work. It’s up to you now. Do you know him? Have you accepted his love? Do you want to be real and know freedom like you’ve never known and love that is complete? This is a personal decision made as an individual and no one can do that for you. This is between you and Jesus. The Bible says when we confess our sin he is faithful to forgive it. So I challenge you today to ask him, test him and see if what he says isn’t true. You won’t be disappointed. In fact you just might find that you are “free”, “whole”, or even “real” for the first time in your life. And if you do be sure to tell others!