The Gospel

According to Peter Pan

I am the vine; you are the branches.  Whoever abides in me and I in him,

he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.—Jesus (John 15:5)

Peter Pan can change you life.  Absurd, you say?  Well, maybe that’s simply because you don’t know the mystery of Peter Pan.   A mystery, you ask?  A mystery, indeed.  That’s why so few people understand it.  Even the Old Book calls it a mystery (Colossians 1:27).

Since you are reading this on my website it is likely that you are a Christian.  (If you aren’t, go back to my home page and press the picture of the penny.  That little penny will be worth more to you than all the gold in the whole wide world.)   And as a Christian you want to "bear fruit" in your life.  Right?  Silly question.  Of course you do.  The problem is, unfortunately, that your grape vine may be pretty sparse.  Maybe a shriveled up raisin here and there, but not enough grapes to even stomp out a small glass of juice.  Much fruit there ain’t.

So what’s the deal?  Why is my puny branch so bare?  Think ABIDE.  Think mystery.  Think Peter Pan.

Permit me to digress momentarily.  Galatians 2:20 says,  “I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ lives in me.”  If we could get our minds wrapped around that profound truth it would seriously revolutionize our lives.

Suppose I woke up this morning, dangled my feet over the side of the bed and mumbled, “Stomach, please be with me today.  I’m heading into the kitchen for a cup of mud, so I need you to be with me, stomach.  And bladder, after I drink that cup of coffee I know I’m going to need you, so would you please go with me today.”  Then I look over at my snoozing wife and beg, “And wife’s brain, please go with her today because she is going to need you today.”  If I did that you’d conclude, and rightly so, that I was a pointy headed dimwit.  And yet, how many of us just as absurdly pray stinkin’ thinkin’ “Jesus be with me” prayers?  How often we hear Christians, even seasoned saints, pathetically plead, “O Lord, be with us.”  Pardon me for asking, but did He slip out the back door while I wasn't looking?  Or, “Jesus, be with my Christian brother today.”  Like Jesus is going to stay home and do yard work or clean out the garage while the brother runs errands for the day?  Once when I heard a preacher passionately implore, “Oh, Holy Spirit, we invite you to come into our presence,”  I wanted to jump up and announce, “I don’t know about the rest of you, but when I walked in the door He showed up.”  Why?  Because he is in me.  HE is in me.  He IS in me.  He is IN me.  He is in ME.  Now, back to abiding.

Jesus said, “Whoever abides in me and I in him, he is it that bears much fruit.” Astonishing.  There is one teeny weenie problem—what does abide mean and how do I do it?  Think Peter Pan. 

Here’s what I want you to do.  Close your eyes and picture Peter Pan in your mind.  Go ahead, shut those peepers and visualize Peter Pan.  Did you do it?  Come on, work with me here.  In order for you to learn the mystery of Peter Pan you’ve got to do what I tell you to do. So give it another shot.  Shut your eyes and imagine a picture of Peter Pan in your mind.  You got it?  Do you see Peter Pan?  Good. 

As a kid one of my favorite parts about going to the carnival was getting a mammoth cotton candy. Not in a plastic bag, but all swirled around on that long, skinny paper cone looking thingy that you hold in your hand.  You know what I’m talking about?  My cotton candy was usually pink and twice the size of my head. Now, close your eyes again and picture Peter Pan holding that humungous cotton candy in his hand.  You’ve got to see it in your mind.  Got it?  Good job.

Next imagine that you are Peter Pan holding the cotton candy.  Go ahead and pretend like you are actually holding it. Come on, nobody’s watching you so just stick your paw out there and hold that cotton candy. You are now Peter Pan holding a giant cotton candy in your hand.  Now turn the cotton candy upside down and dip it not once, but double dip it into a massive bowl of M&Ms.  Turn it back right side up and see your cotton candy with lots of M&Ms speckled on it.  Do you see it?

OK, now close your eyes again, see the picture, and repeat—Peter Pan, Cotton Candy, Double-Dipped, M&Ms.  And after you say, “M&Ms,” say the word ABIDE. Think more about the picture than the words.  If you have the picture you'll get the words.  Let’s say it again.  Peter Pan, Cotton Candy, Double-Dipped, M&Ms—Abide.  Again, Peter Pan, Cotton Candy, Double-Dipped, M&Ms—Abide.  Repeat it, seeing the picture, until you can recite it without any faltering.  Again, Peter Pan, Cotton Candy, Double-Dipped, M&Ms—Abide.  Peter Pan, Cotton Candy, Double-Dipped, M&Ms—Abide.  Peter Pan, Cotton Candy, Double-Dipped, M&Ms—Abide.  You got it?  Excellent!  Now you know what ABIDE means!  Let’s close in prayer. 

I’m only kidding.  I’m not done yet.

Peter Pan.  PP.  Practice His Presence.

Cotton Candy.  CC.  Constantly Connected.

Double Dipped.  DD.  Desperately Dependent.

M&Ms.  MM.  Moment-by-Moment.

Abide.

That’s what abiding means.  Practice His Presence, Constantly Connected, Desperately Dependant, Moment-by-Moment. 

One Friday afternoon an exhausted businessman in New York City simply wanted to call it a week and get home.  He commuted out of the city on the train to his car in the suburbs, then drove the rest of the way home.  On this particular Friday afternoon he was beat.  All he wanted to do was get on the train, read his paper, and get home.  As he sat down and opened his paper a little boy on the train was running up and down the aisles, bouncing off one end of the train car and then the other.  Back and forth, back and forth.  And across the aisle from from the fatigued man sat a little girl noisily crying her eyes out.  She sobbed and sobbed and sobbed.  Next to her sat a man, obviously the father of these two kids, who appeared to be oblivious to it all as he slumped over with his face buried deep in his hands. 

Finally the man with the paper had all he could take.  He tapped the man across the aisle on the shoulder and said, “Excuse me sir, but are these your children?”

Seeming somewhat dazed, the man looked up and acknowledged, “Uh, yes.  These are my two children.  They must be bothering you.” 

“Well, as a matter of fact I’m quite exhausted,” he responded.  “And I am simply trying to read my paper and relax a little bit on my way home.”

“Please forgive us,” the father said.  “You see, we just left the hospital where the mother of my two children, my wife, she just, well, she just died.  Since that time my son has gone kind of nuts.  He’s bouncing all over the place.  And my little girl, well, I can’t get her to stop crying.  And to be honest, sir, I’m in such a state of shock that I wasn’t even aware of what my children were doing.  But I’ll do my best to calm them down so that you can read your paper.”

In an instant the man with the paper had what is called a paradigm shift.  A paradigm is the way that we view reality around us.  It is how we perceive our world.  And when the man with the newspaper understood the situation of this grieving man and his distraught children, his whole paradigm changed.  Although none of the circumstances around him changed one iota, his perception of the situation turned inside out.  The little boy was still bouncing off the walls and the little girl was still sobbing her eyes out, but no longer was this even the slightest irritation to the businessman.  In fact, instead of being annoyed he was overwhelmed with a tremendous pity and compassion for the man and his kids.  He tossed his newspaper aside and compassionately offered, “My friend, what can I do to help you?”

We Christians are in severe need of a considerable and significant paradigm shift.  Instead of perceiving Jesus as “out there” somewhere, we must reckon upon the absolute and practical reality that He lives within us in the person of His Holy Spirit for the glorious purpose of living His life through us.   He lives inside me just as much as my stomach and bladder and brain lives inside me.  And He said that if I want to bear much fruit I need to abide in Him and He in me.

And that’s how Peter Pan can change your life—by teaching you how to abide in the Divine One who dwells inside you.. 

Peter Pan, Cotton Candy, Double Dipped  M&Ms—Abide.

PP, CC, DD, MM—Abide.

Practice His Presence, Constantly Connected, Desperately Dependent, Moment-by-Moment.

Abide.  It's the only way to bear much fruit.  Go for it.

© 2007 Chip Kirk