Pickle Heaven Press-James R. Johnson

something to help you laugh and think about life with Christ

Tag: Galatians 2:20

love that will not let me go — July 30, 2025

love that will not let me go

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Why does Sarah cling to that stuffed lamb she was given as a toddler?    Why does Eric guard that ratty T-shirt he earned way back in his little league days?  And why does my wife stick with me?   It’s been almost 49 years, and my bones creak, and my bladder leaks, and my face looks like my great Grandpa’s.

My answer is this, once you have deeply loved someone, or even something, you just don’t want to let go. 

Sarah cuddled with her lambie pie every night.   She wore the fleece off the poor beast.   Eric’s team were the champs that year.  He proudly wore his T-shirt until his biceps burst the seams. 

I purchased a classical guitar when I was a teen.  I strummed it in bars and coffee houses before I came to know Jesus.  When I got redeemed, so did my guitar.  I went right back to those bars and coffee houses and sang about Jesus – ‘til they bounced me.

The guitar was used to influence several hundred souls to come to Christ.  I used it to sing my wedding vows to my wife. 

But the day came when it was so old and cracked and brittle that it was impractical to use – so I sold it to a friend and bought another one.   

Oh my! I was quickly overcome with sellers’ remorse.  I loved that guitar and it sorta loved me back.  I called my friend, and he graciously understood and sold it back to me.

I then hung the guitar on the wall of my home.  Over time all three of my children picked it up and taught themselves how to play it.  Now all three want that guitar bequeathed to them when I die.   To date I have owned that guitar for 57 years and I ain’t gonna let it go again. 

So why should you be interested in all this? 

Well, only because you have been loved, deeply, thoroughly, loved by the Lord Jesus.  God says so.

He spoke through the prophet Jeremiah saying ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love – Jeremiah 31:3.An everlasting love – that’s the best kind. 

And then there is Galatians 2:20 where Paul made God’s love for him very personal.  He wrote, “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me.”   The Son of God loved me and gave himself up for me.    

Now because He has loved us, He refuses to lose us!

Jesus said, “My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; no one will snatch them from my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can snatch them from my Father’s hand – John 10:28-29.

Even when we are at our worst, He holds on.  The Psalmist confessed, “My spirit was bitter, and my insides felt sharp pain. I was ignorant and lacked insight; I was as senseless as an animal before you. But I am continually with you; you hold my right hand” –   Psalm 73:21-23.

because He has loved us, He refuses to lose us!   Our fleece may be wearing thin, but His love persists and sees us in the best light.  Our seams may be bursting but His love covers us.

Matt Redman put it this way, “Oh no, You never let go, through the calm and through the storm. Oh no, You never let go, in every high and every low;

Oh no, You never let go – Lord, You never let go of me.”

How sweet it is to know that God’s love for us will never ever let us go. 

A PRAYER: A Lord, thank you for your relentless love for us.

This has been Jim Johnson and pickleheavenpress.com

May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

Scripture passages are from the NETBible ®

give yourself — February 12, 2025

give yourself

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I was in the car along with my wife who isn’t always happy with my driving.  But she did a remarkable job of restraining herself.  She didn’t stomp on an imaginary brake or close her eyes when I passed another car.  In fact, when we arrived, she said, “Thank you!”

I said, “Well you’re welcome.”  She said, “I was talking to God!” Just kidding, my wife loves the way I drive.  OK I’m just kidding about that too.

In truth, I greatly treasure my wife, which is why the following story intrigues me. 

A hospice chaplain took on an older man as a patient.  Oddly, the man’s ex-wife volunteered to become his primary caregiver.  Now though they had divorced many years earlier she showed up to assist him in his time of need. 

He was dying, and yet the two of them talked and then decided to remarry.  The chaplain asked his wife why.  There was no insurance policy, nor could he leave her a house or possessions to amount to much.  Their children were not pressuring them.  So why remarry? 

She said, “When we were young, he gave me homes, and cars, and jewelry and much more.  But he never gave me himself.  But now that’s all he has to give.”

That was all he had left to give, and yet it was the best thing he could give.  It was a treasure that should have been shared with her since the day they first said, “I do.”  Some of us may remember these words from our marriage ceremony, “Now that you have been given to each other…”

That’s the simple essence of a marriage – giving ourselves to each other – our heart and soul – manifested by sharing, listening, serving and being with one another; caring for the hurts and pains of each other; sacrificing to benefit one another and being faithful not only in body but soul, to each other.   

If you are married, take a hint. Make sure you are giving yourself to your spouse.  Tune in to him/her.  Listen, empathize, laugh together, cry together, lose yourself to benefit each other and spend lots of time together.  Your marriage will thrive and grow as you do. 

Do you need some help?  Look to the Lord!  Think on the way that He has loved us.  Paul described it in Galatians 2:20 where he wrote that the Son of God, “loved me and gave himself for me.”   Jesus gave Himself.  But how? 

He laid aside His prerogatives as God and clothed Himself in flesh in order to be with us – so that He could walk and talk and do life with us. 

In His quest, He endured misunderstanding and misrepresentation.  He turned the other cheek just as He directed us to do.  With patience and determination, He stuck with us. 

And though we fled from Gethsemane when He was arrested, and hid from the cross when He was crucified, He continued in His commitment to us.

He quietly endured the brutal suffering of crucifixion, the abandonment at His burial and then enjoyed the glory of being raised again.  This is how He gave Himself – all of Himself, leaving nothing left for Himself. 

I am guessing that’s what Paul meant when he wrote, “Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her” Ephesians 5:25. 

There is that phrase again. He, “gave himself.”

I have found that the more we give ourselves, the more of us we have to give.  The more of my life that I lay down for others, the more life the Lord gives to me. 

Like the fishes and loaves – as they were given away and distributed, they were replaced by more and more in the hands of the master.

So, give yourself!  To your spouse for sure, and even your children and most certainly to the Lord. 

Give yourself – because it’s the only thing of real value that you have to give?

A PRAYER: Lord, help me understand what I may be holding back from my wife, and You and others.

This has been Jim Johnson and pickleheavenpress.com

Scripture references are from the NETBible ®

death where is thy fang — April 8, 2020

death where is thy fang

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It was Vacation Bible School.  Our theme for the week was Bible Barnyard.  We took animals that were referenced in the Bible, brought them to the church and then used them as object lessons. 

We cast our pearls before a guest swine who had the manners of a pig.  There was a sheep that strayed by to teach us how to follow our shepherd.  Then there was the snow-white dove that dropped in to remind us to be gentle as we make our way through this world. 

The wolves were already booked elsewhere – a wedding I think – but we did have a serpent make a guest appearance.  It belonged to a member of the church.  He did a great job of teaching us to be shrewd as we interact with our world. 

The kids loved the him. They reached their hands into his glass enclosure and let him thread himself through their fingers.  We became a snake handling church for the day!  He seemed safe enough.

As the session came to an end, the snake’s owner told me that the serpent was due to be fed.  She asked if the kids might like to see it.  I said “Sure.” 

So, she dropped a little grey mouse into the cage.  The kids crowded around.  They connected with the cute little fuzz ball that was skittering about.  They oohed and giggled until – with lightning speed – the snake inhaled the mouse. 

Half the kids were awed by it.  The other half – not so much.  There was a scream explosion.  Not just one kid – at least a half a dozen – and it was catching.  They whimpered and blubbered and sobbed and they were loud. I was ready to line up some grief counselors. 

The cute, fuzzy, innocent, little mouse was swallowed whole by the cold-blooded, villainous reptile. I wanted to cry too.

The drama prompts me to think back to Calvary.  Jesus was not as cute, but many were deeply attached to Him.  He had healed the broken and ambulated the lame.  He brought the sparkle back into blinded eyes and the sound of laughter to empty ears. 

He touched the diseased, welcomed the outcast and courageously defended the downtrodden.  He was admired, esteemed and cherished. 

And then He was abruptly inhaled by death – and all creation screamed. 

The sun was obscured by a sheer veil of darkness.  The earth trembled and shook with sorrow as her rocks shattered.  The cavernous temple was filled with the harsh sound of tearing as the massive partition curtain was rent.  A river of tears flowed down the hill of Calvary from the faithful that were huddled there.

The cross was not the way His story should have ended.  But that’s the way it was – and all creation screamed in protest. 

Unlike our little mouse, however, it was His choice! -a decision that was all about us. 

“Christ also loved us and gave himself for us.”  – Ephesians 5:2

“Christ loved the church and gave himself for her.”  – Ephesians 5:25

“the Son of God…loved me and gave himself for me.” –  Galatians 2:20

Oh, how amazing it would have been, if that little fuzz ball of a mouse could have backed out of the jaws of the serpent.  The bitter would have become better for our distraught kids. 

Jesus, on the other hand, backed out of His tomb – having been truly and fully dead for 3 days.  His glorious resurrection was also all about us.  Paul wrote, “Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may live a new life.”  – Romans 6:4

Do you believe it?  It is important that you do says Paul, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” – Romans 10:9

What does that mean “You will be saved?” It means, little mouse, that the python of death will never be able to swallow the one who belongs to Jesus. 

It is the Easter season – a perfect time to confess Jesus with your mouth and believe in Jesus in your heart.

All biblical references from the NET Bible ®