By Barrett VanLandingham
May 13, 2008 12:32 pm
—
Are you a frog? That's an odd question!
But the other night when I was sitting on my back porch here in Fort Gibson, my 12-year old daughter Gracie ran up to Lisa and me, jumping up and down, and revealed her newest treasure.
It was a tree frog about as big as my thumb.
Of course, it had big sticky hands and feet, and bulging eyes.
But that's not what I wanted to tell you about.
It was bedtime, so I told Gracie, “It's a school night. Just put down the frog and go to your room.”
So with some resistance she carefully placed it on a water-covered stump in the back yard, about seven feet from where I was sitting. I told Gracie, “Don't worry. As soon as you go to bed, the frog will probably get its top hat and cane, and do a little jig for us.”
Well, that didn't happen.
But what did happen sparked an idea for this article.
That little frog began to croak a medium high-pitched tone that was so loud I could barely carry on a conversation with my wife.
What a disaster.
Just one frog was making all that noise.
And then I could hear what sounded like dozens of other frogs in the distance chiming in with this one.
As soon as I got past the shock of how loudly one frog could croak, I thought to myself just how much like a tree frog are we as Christians supposed to be?
Just think of the lessons we can learn from critters like this.
In the Bible, frogs are generally not represented in a very positive light.
They are referred to as one of the plagues in the story of Moses and Pharaoh.
And in Revelation, it is said that three evil spirits looked like frogs.
But I would like to submit a different view of frogs.
Much like a frog that clings to a tree, we as Christians cling to a tree, also known as the cross of Jesus Christ.
Remember the old song, “I will cling to the old rugged cross, and exchange it someday for a crown.”
It is the fact that Jesus hung on a tree that empowers each of us to boldly proclaim (even when it seems like no one is listening) the Gospel story of Jesus Christ, and what He did for us.
In the case of Jesus, He would voluntarily cling to a cross to give us hope.
He was the perfect sacrifice, and the very reason why we as God-following people no longer cling to the Old Testament way of doing things such as animal sacrifice.
“Because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins (Hebrews 10:4).”
People who lived prior to the crucifixion of Jesus are also covered by His blood if they obeyed the Old Testament law.
You may never view yourself as a frog clinging to a tree, croaking out through the night.
But that's OK as long as you remember that Jesus hung on a tree and that we as Christians should imitate Jesus and offer our bodies as living sacrifices to God (Romans 12:1).
And just like that frog, we also have a message worth telling the world about, beginning in our own neighborhoods.
Have a great day!
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