Weekly Blessings: Week 18: The Great Pumpkin

Isn’t it amazing how God can use the simplest thing to preach to us? Well that’s what He did to me last week when I was watching TV. 

My mom and I have this tradition where every year we watch the Charlie Brown specials that come on TV for the holidays. During this time of year “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!” comes on for Halloween. If you aren’t familiar with the television special, I’m extremely disappointed, but you can read about it here.

As I watched, I payed close attention to Linus, who is the believer of The Great Pumpkin. Although he was teased by the other kids for believing in The Great Pumpkin, Linus refused to let them influence him and refused to acknowledge the fact that The Great Pumpkin wasn’t real. Even when Sally, who followed Linus to the pumpkin patch, fussed at him for wasting her time and The Great Pumpkin not showing, Linus still stayed and waited to him(The Great Pumpkin) to come, even telling Sally that he’d put in a good word for everyone when he did show.

Linus made me think of Christians and the way we need to be towards God.

Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Linus didn’t know what The Great Pumpkin looked like, but that didn’t stop him from believing. All Linus knew was that he needed to be a good boy and he would get his toys and candy that was promised. That’s how we should be with God. Nobody truly knows what exactly God looks like, because we’ve never seen him. However, the promises in His word make Him undeniable. All we know to do is follow His commandments(1 John 5:3, 2 John 1:6) and accept Him(Romans 10:9, Acts 2:21, Romans 10:13, John 14:6), then we will be saved and get into Heaven(Acts 4:12, Romans 6:23). It’s the same exact concept!

Linus was bold enough to stand up and say that he believed in The Great Pumpkin, and there was nothing anyone could do to change his mind. That’s how we need to be too, especially in this day and time. Christians all over the world have been jailed, tortured, and killed simply for publicly expressing their belief in God. Were they afraid? Of course. But they didn’t let their faith waver and, regardless of what happened, they have a spot in Heaven with our Lord and Savior. Like Linus, we have to be able to stand up against people who try to discredit our faith. Some people will tease us, taunt us, or try to tell us we’re crazy. Some people won’t understand why we believe in God and will think we’re dumb for it, maybe even to the point of abandoning us, as Sally did Linus in the Pumpkin patch. But again, just like Linus, our hearts have to be fixed and our minds have to be made up (Yes,I did quote Hezekiah Walker) that God is real and no one can tell us otherwise(Psalm 57:7). Our faith has to be so solid that people can’t help but respect it. Not everyone is going to believe, that’s just how it is, but we can at least run the race as best as we can and show that our God is real and He’s coming back, whether they like it or not. Linus was convinced The Great Pumpkin was real and promised all of his friends that they would see him one day; then they would know that he was telling the truth all along. Same goes for Christians! Not everyone is going to accept God. However, all we can say is that Jesus is on his way back and when he gets here, nobody will be able to say that they didn’t know or that they didn’t get a chance to accept Him. One day they will see(Romans 14:22, Philippians 2:10)! And all of our hard work will have been worth it when we finally get our reward!

Thanks for reading! If you’d like to share something(Bible verse, a song, or a message) that God has put on your heart, please do so! If you’d like to contribute to “Weekly Blessings,” reach me via Facebook,  Twitter, or Email; you can also simply comment below and I’ll make sure to get back with you!