adventures of jerkface
DESCRIPTION
A parable about what the progression into becoming a spiritually mature people might look like.TRANSCRIPT
The Adventures of The Adventures of JerkfaceJerkface
A Roadmap to Being Set Free
I would like to introduce you to the MHGS test
dummy, Jerkface
Jerkface never knew that pouting, when he didn’t get his way, was not a
good thing.
Jerkface never knew that pouting, when he didn’t get his way, was not a
good thing.
That’s what he did as a kid, and it seemed to
work, in fact, it helped him to always get his
way.
Jerkface never knew that pouting, when he didn’t get his way, was not a
good thing.
That’s what he did as a kid, and it seemed to
work, in fact, it helped him to always
get his way.
I suppose by now, you know how he earned his nickname, he was a real
Jerkface
So one day, Jerkface is wondering why he doesn’t have friends and prays to
God.
“Why am I such a Jerkface?”
He comes across a Bible that say
something like “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because
through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free
from the law of sin and death.”
Jerkface instantly knows, somehow inside, that this
is what he wants, even though he doesn’t
understand it.
Jerkface then prays to God,
“Set me free!”
Jerkface then prays to God,
“Set me free!”
And in spite of the fact that Jerkface doesn’t really
know what that means, God himself, answers that
prayer.
The very next day, Jerkface’s friend says to
Jerkface,
“Jerkface, you are a real Jerkface. Every time you don’t get your way, you pout. And I, for one, am
sick of it!”
So… as usual Jerkface goes and pouts.
So… as usual Jerkface goes and pouts.
And as was his norm in these types of
things, Jerkface went and pouted to
another friend about the complaint of friend number 1.
Friend number 2 said,
“Well, I don’t know how to say this, but friend number 1 is
right.”
Though hurt and even more pouty, somehow, Jerkface recognizes that his friend is correct and upon reflection thinks,
Though hurt and even more pouty, somehow, Jerkface recognizes that his friend is correct and upon reflection thinks,
“Hey! Maybe this is what God wants set me free from. I am a Jerkface.
And I need to stop pouting.”
Jerkface has now arrived at the first stage of
the Roadmap to Being Set Free.
Jerkface has now arrived at the first stage of
the Roadmap to Being Set Free.
He was PROMPTEDPROMPTED by another person to recognize what God was up to in his
life.
Jerkface has now arrived at the first stage of
the Roadmap to Being Set Free.
He was PROMPTEDPROMPTED by another person to recognize what God was up to in his
life.
Now remember, he couldn’t recognize it himself, but
unlike anytime before, the friends prompting helped him to
recognize this whole mess for the first time.
Now I would love to tell you that Jerkface instantly
became happy face, but I can’t.
Why?
Jerkface has been a Jerkface for over twenty five years,
and well, these kinds of things just don’t happen
over night.
But Jerkface is on the move.
He keeps praying about it.
Jerkface even asks his friends, “Hey friends 1 and 2, I know I
am a real Jerkface sometimes.”
They both nod silently and look
at each other and shrug.
“But could you let me know when I do the Jerkface thing I don’t recognize. I really need your
help.”
Well, they did and it was really annoying,
but it helped Jerkface, and even
started to help friends 1 and 2 to
recognize their own tendencies towards being Jerkfaces in their own sort of
way.
Then one day, miracle of all
miracles, Jerkface noticed on his own,
a time that he pouted.
He was talking to another friend who disagreed with his take on politics and
then, you guessed it,
Jerkface pouted and acted like a Jerkface.
This time though, three days after,
Jerkface remember that he acted like a
Jerkface.
Immediately, (actually three more days) he called up his friend
and said,
“Hey, this is Jerkface. Sorry I acted like a
Jerkface the other day when we were talking
about politics.”
Thus, Jerkface, though it was six days later,
recognized all by himself, that this is the one area of life that God was working on and graduated to stage 2, the “AFTER THE FACTAFTER THE FACT”
stage”
Now I would love to tell you that this transition from
Jerkface to Happyface only takes a couple of days, but it is pretty complicated and generally takes years, yes I said years, with moments of
victory and moments of failure.
Let me repeat myself, YEARS!
I would also love to stop and talk about why it takes years when God could just do it in blink, but I actually
don’t really know.
I think it’s cause it helps us to mature in our faith as
opposed to becoming selfish little, “give me give mes” ,who are addicted to instant gratification, which isn’t really any better than being a Jerkface, but I am not too sure on all of that
either.
Back to the main feature.
Three years, two months, six days, seven hours, and
a second or two later, Jerkface is now to the point
where he recognizes almost instantly his
horrible need to pout so he can get his way, even though he knows that
pouting is really being a Jerkface
He doesn’t like it and is
sincerely remorseful each and
every time,
which is approximately 32 times a day - double that if he has to hang out
with his parents.
He prays to God, “Why are you not setting me free?
God says “I am, but stop being a Jerkface about it. Look at all the progress
you have made.”
Instantly, Jerkface notices that he even pouts to God when he doesn’t get his way and is faced with a huge decision and cries out, “To pout or not to
pout. That is the question!”
Jerkface then pouts about his pouting.
But as more time passes, Jerkface starts to recognize IN THE IN THE
MOMENTMOMENT the pouting thing.
Right in the middle of conversations he can make the choice to
pout or not to pout. At first he chooses to pout.
He doesn’t like it. In fact, he hates it. But, it
is easier, not to mention the Jerkface pout is all he has ever
known.
One day, he says,
“What the hey!”
and decides not to pout.
And guess what, he liked it. It was weird.
Really weird.
And his friends didn’t know
what to do when he said without
pouting, “I know we
disagree, but I think there are
some right things and
wrong things about both of
our viewpoints.”
After their shock of Jerkface’s new attitude, everyone was resuscitated, and they celebrated Jerkface’s new
found freedom.
Now I would love to tell you that it was
this way all the time and with
everyone, but it wasn’t that easy.
Jerkface was really good with his close friends, but when he hung out with his parents, well you know, they
were all Jerkface’s too, which made
the whole, IN THE IN THE MOMENT MOMENT thing a little more difficult
to master.
After more and more victories with his friends, Jerkface soon came to love
his newfound choice to be
Happyface in the midst of
conversation, even disagreement, and learned how to live in the paradox of being both true to himself and to still be a loving friend.
Even with Mr. and Mrs. Jerkface
Sr.
Without much notice or fanfare, this lifestyle actually
became his habit.
What used to be a bad habit, has now over the course of
many PROMPTINGSPROMPTINGS, a year or so of AFTER THE FACTSAFTER THE FACTS,
several months of bad choices IN THE MOMENTIN THE MOMENT,
followed by some really great choices IN THE MOMENTIN THE MOMENT, is
now a SPONTANEOUSSPONTANEOUS happening that is rarely ever
Jerkfaced upon.
He doesn’t even have to think about it, in fact, the
only thing he thinks about is,
“Why did it take me so long to see that I was a Jerkface?”
Then God tapped Jerkface on the
shoulder and said, “I would like to set you free from your eating
habits.”
And guess what, Jerkface didn’t even
pout about it.
WHEN PROMPTE
D
Rod Map to Being Holy
IN THE MOMENT
AFTER THE FACT
SPONTANEOUS
With prompting
from someone
else, I realize
“something” about myself that I never
noticed
With no promptin
g, I realize
this “something” on
my own – but after I already
did it
In the moment, I chose to do the old “somethi
ng” or the new “somethi
ng”
The norm for my
life becomes the new “somethi
ng”
Romans 8:1Therefore, there is now no
condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set set
me free me free from the law of sin and death.