Big Bad John - Pt 1

The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 4:7-11 ESV).

In 1961 Jimmy Dean first released his hit song “Big Bad John.” (To listen to it you can go to https://archive.org/details/JimmyDean-BigBadJohn.) The song tells the story of a mysterious and quiet miner who earned the nickname Big John because of his height, weight, and muscular physique ("He stood six foot six and weighed two forty-five"). One day, a support timber cracked at the mine where John worked. The situation looked hopeless until John "grabbed a saggin' timber, gave out with a groan / and like a giant oak tree just stood there alone", then "gave a mighty shove", opening a passage and allowing the 20 other miners to escape the mine. Although the miners were about to reenter the mine with the tools necessary to save him, the mine fully collapsed and John was believed to have died in the depths of the mine. The mine itself was never reopened, but a marble stand was placed in front of it, with the words "At the bottom of this mine lies a big, big man – Big John". As I listened to it I was reminded that God does not want us to be strong. God wants to be our strength. Perhaps a better way to say it is this: God wants us to be really strong, which is different from the way we might typically desire to be strong. We often want to be strong in a way that reflects well on us. God wants us to be strong in a way that reflects well on him. Those two are rarely the same in our world. If we were sinless, our wants and God’s wants would be in perfect harmony. We would only want to be strong in the strength that God supplies. However, that simply is not who we are. We are sinners. As a result, we can find ourselves deeply discouraged by the very limitations and adversity that God has actually designed to cultivate in us strong, courageous, and liberating faith. In the next few devotionals we are going to explore what it means to live in the strength of the Lord. The Apostle Peter made the principle very clear in our reading today. Further, he speaks from the depth of experience. He went from the proud, arrogant failure of his denial of Jesus the night of His arrest to the Rock of Faith Jesus wanted him to become all by his surrender to the will and purpose of God. That should be our goal. Make that your prayer today!