Pokémon Jesus

"Jesus, I choose you!"

That phrase ran through my head this morning as I was getting ready. I was thinking about some of my words from yesterday, and wondering what it meant to choose Jesus today. The phrase reminded me of Pokémon, and that actually provided some good food for thought.

Pokémon, if you don't already know, is a hugely popular video game / card game / television series / lunchbox franchise that involves a bunch of little monsters that do battle with one another. (The most recognizable of these is Pikachu.) "Pokémon trainers" travel around a region and try to collect all of the monsters in that area. If they see one, they can throw a seemingly magical little ball at it and capture it. Later, they can call upon the Pokémon to do battle by throwing down the ball, usually with the catchphrase, ", I choose you!" When the battle is over, the Pokémon goes back into it's ball to await the next time the trainer calls upon it. *

Unfortunately, the similarities between Pokémon and how I treat Jesus extend beyond a catch phrase. Too often, I treat Jesus like a pet that I have mastered. I want to pull him out to fight my battles for me and put him back in his little ball, conveniently out of the way, when I'm done with him. Putting these words down, even if they are true, is painful. It's such an obviously insulting way of treating the Lord of all creation. (Part of me wanted to say "Master of the universe", but I figure there are enough animated references in this post already.)

I do want to choose Jesus. But it's good to remember that the choosing is not on my terms. I can't pull him out when I want and tuck him away when it's inconvenient. Choosing means choosing to submit, choosing to obey, choosing to die, choosing to be born again on His terms. If I'm not making that kind of choice, I'm not really choosing him at all.

* Disclaimer: I've seen, but never played the card game. I've probably played a total of 5 minutes of the video game. I may have seen one episode of the cartoon when I was in college. I DID play a lot of Super Smash Brothers, which has a few Pokémon in it but none of the traditional elements of the show. I don't really know how I know this much about Pokémon, except that Wikipedia helps. Also, I have way too much fun typing accents over letters.