Johnny's Got a Gun

JOHNNY’S GOT A GUN

“Therefore….arm yourselves with the same attitude…” I Peter 4:1

We own a firearm….actually two. We bought them with the express intention of keeping our family safe when I travel and have to be gone overnight. Not that my presence would be a serious deterent to intruders, but it does help with the absence of their “manly man.” The guns are locked up safely, away from the grasp of curious children, and only come out when my wife gets to go shooting with her dad down at his place. Or when the tomcat from down the street wanders into our yard. Or when there is a serious threat to our safety.
Last summer my dogs were going crazy in our backyard late in the afternoon. I looked out and could see that my guard dog Mulligan (we found him at a golf course) had cornered something along the back fence. I started out, and then realized that what was cornered was probably a snake that had wandered off the lake. Instinctively, I went for the gun. I am not a great shot….not even a good one…but if the snake were a copperhead or moccasin, I liked my chances with my 38 special. I headed out back, fired off two rounds, scared the little serpent off, and went back to the house to finish my business.
When I read this passage in I Peter 4, I am reminded of how I felt heading out to tackle an intruder on my landscape. The feeling of being armed was a very comforting feeling. I was armed, and therefore, I was invincible…in my mind, at least.When tough times come, it pays to be armed. When the enemy gets in your backyard, it pays to be packing some heat. What I am called to be armed with is not a weapon, but an attitude. The attitude of Christ. Not always sure what that means…but I think it has something to do with the fact that Christ was so God-focused that the sufferings He went through were able to be viewed as a means to an end…not an end in themselves. That is the problem that I have with suffering…especially suffering when you are doing good. Suffering (not the kind I experience from my own bad decisions) seems like an end in itself. But this passage tells me that it does several things for me:1. It gives me perspective- I am done with the trivialities of life when I suffer. I am finished swimming in the three foot end of the pool….wading around in my own inconsistencies and flirtations with sin.2. It gives me power- I am liberated from myself, and begin looking at and following God’s big picture goals.3. It gives me purpose- Suffering removes the dross and purifies my purposes.Looking at life the way God sees it…the way Christ saw it…is terribly comforting in the final analysis. Not only will I begin to emerge a deeper and purer person, I will then have the perspective to weigh what is happening in my life from a bigger frame of reference. When you get to the point that you don’t care what happens to you, you are invincible.