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.