Beatles 11, Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except For Me and My Monkey

The Beatles Devotionals Part 11.  Only a few more to go, although after this past weekend I had another one to do after some things I learned.  This devotional, however, likely has the longest title of any of my little devotionals.  It shares a name with a Beatles song: “Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except For Me and My Monkey.”  A strange little song written by John Lennon.  Not that that little sentence doesn’t describe a LOT of John’s songs.  The title of this one, though, is the longest title of any Beatles song. 

John’s side of the story is that he wrote it while Yoko was sitting in on the recording sessions, and everyone around them grew increasingly paranoid.  “Why is she here?”  “What are they up to?”  “It’s never been anyone but the four of us before!”  And the questions went on.  According to John, the song was written because, from his point of view, he and his monkey (presumably Yoko) were the only ones that were out and open and in front of everyone and completely honest.  John’s exact words, “Everybody seemed to be paranoid except for us two, who were in the glow of love. Everything is clear and open when you're in love.”  Depending on where you look, though, there are several other theories out there behind the meaning of the song.  Some say it’s some shot at the Maharishi, and even George Harrison said the song was about John’s heroin addiction…that John’s point was that they all had their secrets, but his monkey – the heroin – was common knowledge.  John’s side of the story came out in an interview with a certain men’s magazine in 1980.  He’d written the song for the White Album in 1968 while in India.  It’s possible he changed his story in the twenty-plus years between writing and explaining.

But I have no reason to doubt John’s side of the story.  Of all the things going on when the Beatles went home for the day, so to speak, the only one that brought his secret with him was John.  Like I covered in the Ballad of John and Yoko devotional, wanting to be together is what husbands and wives are supposed to want to do.  Now was John’s side of the story fully accurate or simply spin he put on it years later?  I can’t say.  When we get to Heaven, maybe you can ask him…wait, what?!  Don’t worry – that devotional’s coming.  It’s not always just about the race, it’s about the finish.  But like I said, that’s another devotional coming soon.

But here’s what I’m willing to bet: that we all have that one thing in our closet.  A temper, a tongue, a prejudice, an addiction, a regret from years ago…something that most people don’t know about us and we’d just as soon keep it that way.  I’m not going to go full-on confessional here, especially considering I’ve already put most of it out there for everyone anyway.  But yeah, even us fun-loving, devotional-writing guys have them.  It’s entirely possible that I’ve lived with one for a LONG time.  Up to and including emailing said person for forgiveness when I first jotted down the outline of topics for this devotional series.  Something I’d said to one of my best friends back in seventh or eighth grade.  It was a spur of the moment, rude, comment made in a stupid attempt to be funny.  And what I said has stuck with ME since the minute I’d said it.  I’d like to say it’s something that stopped then.  But it’s not.  I’d like to say that harsh tones, annoyed eye-rolls, and things said immediately regretted were reserved for those outside my family.  I’d like to say that.  Most of you reading this may be shocked to know that.  Most of you reading this have something just like that that you don’t want known outside of your immediate circle, too.  I had a friend whose mother stopped smoking 15 years ago…or so her family thought.  They found out after the funeral that she was a faithful smoker (at work) until she died.  I could keep on making the list- but you just feel free to add your own secret, and we’ll move on knowing that we’re all on the same set of tracks. 

I’m also willing to step out on a limb and say that there’s a Bible verse that condemns you…convicts you…shames you every time you read it.  Ephesians 4:29 “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.”  Then there’s James’ finger poking me in the chest for most of James 3.  Honor your father and mother?  (Rodney Dangerfield voice) Yeah, right…have you MET my mother?  Hyuck Hyuck.  Not just the words I say, but the tones in which they're spoken.  And the reputation they build – so even when you don’t intend your words to be pointed or sharp or hurtful, they’re heard that way anyway.  Then you’re left defending hurtful words that weren’t intended to be hurtful.  And whose fault is that?  My own.  And am I working VERY hard to change that?  Yes, I am.  Is it something I’ve wanted to come forward about on some Sunday morning during the invitation song?  Not at all…because I don’t want everyone knowing my business!!  And I’m not saying I’m a bad guy or treat my family horribly.  I’m just saying that there are times I should just learn to shut up.  But you know what?  Everybody’s got something to hide, except for me and my monkey.  And don’t worry…I’m not going to ask you about yours.  It’s hidden, and you know it.  And honestly, it’s not my job to pry it out of you.

It’s my job to get you to look to God for help.  Ask God to remove the thorn from your side.  He said no to Paul’s request, but maybe not yours.  Grovel, beg, fall on your knees – get on your face in the floor and beg for His help to change.  Everybody’s got something to hide except for me and my monkey – but you ain’t hiding it from God.  No, I’m not saying that God is the NSA, and he’s tapping your phone or has your house bugged to eavesdrop on your conversations.  But He hears you.  He sees you.  He cries for you.  He knows you want to change.  He has the power to change you.  He has the want to change you.  But that whole free will thing he gave you.  He wants you to want to change.  Sure, God could treat you like puppy being housebroken.  He could rub your nose in it, whop you good with a rolled up newspaper, and then throw you outside…but mostly He doesn’t have to.  Most of those sorts of hidden things have their own consequences.  Lost jobs.  Damaged or broken relationships.  Violated trust.  Maybe jail.  You name it.  It’s like in the move “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?” when Delmar gets baptized.  He thinks that everything’s all better and that the Piggly Wiggly he robbed in Yazoo is forgiven as well as his lying about it.  It’s explained to him by dear old Ulysses Everett McGill (who talks about as much as I do) that the baptism was between him and the Lord, but the State of Mississippi is a whole different matter.  Because while God can heal the sins of your secrets, that doesn’t magically make consequences go away.

Listen for the Whisper that sounds like Beatles singing a different song.  “Listen.  Do you want to a secret?  Do you promise not to tell?  Whoa-oa, oh.  Closer.  Let me whisper in your ear (See?  A whisper).  Say those words you long hear.  I’m in love with you!”  God loves you.  It’s not even a secret.  Jesus willingly went to the cross to proclaim that love to every person on earth for all time.  You might have secrets, but the fact that God loves you isn’t one.  You know it.  I know it.  The checker at the grocery store knows it.  So confess your secrets to Him.  Ask Him to help you move past them.  The devil’s the one that likes you to have secrets.  A nice little secret is a nice little sin to try and separate you from God.  Let the Son shine on your dark corners.  Let in the light of truth.  Let the healing of forgiveness begin.  And believe me, it’s VERY difficult phrase to work into normal conversation, but the next time you hear someone say in conversation that everybody has something to hide except for me and my monkey…ask them if they were calling you their monkey.  Because God loves you, and like John said, “Everything is clear and open when you're in love.”  Is there a place for “coming forward” on a Sunday morning at church?  Absolutely.  Prayers.  Support group.  Accountability.  But God can forgive you wherever you are.  1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  So what’s stopping you?

~Dwayne

ListenForTheWhisper@comcast.net

http://listenforthewhisper.blogspot.com

Beatles 10, Help! I Need Somebody

So here we are in the tenth installment of the Beatles devotional series.  Let’s start with a pop quiz!  Who played bass for the Beatles?  And everyone says, “Paul,” and of course, everyone is correct.  Paul definitely played bass – but Paul also played guitar on “Blackbird” and “Yesterday”.  He played piano on a few songs (some argue that he played it poorly).  Paul played Drums on “Back in the USSR”, “Dear Prudence”, and “The Ballad of John and Yoko” (among others) while Ringo was off feeling underused and sorry for himself. Mainly, however, Paul is known for playing what? Bass.  Why?  Because that’s the instrument that he needed to play.  There wasn’t a “Help Wanted” ad that Paul answered, but they needed help all the same.

Not back at the beginning, though.  Way back before the Fab Four was the Final Four, there was a man named Stuart Sutcliffe.  They were primarily playing local clubs with John, Paul, George and Ringo…and Stuart.  Stuart Sutcliffe played bass, and Paul played guitar with John.  And the Fantastic Five got along swimmingly…until Stuart quit, then died shortly thereafter.  Instead of hiring a new bassist, Paul gave up his guitar playing and became the band’s bass player.  The rest, as they say, is history.  Paul played bass because that’s the instrument the Beatles needed him to play.  Paul could, so why shouldn’t he?

 So what instrument do you play?  Sometimes we have to do what’s needed of us.  The list is virtually endless of (figurative) instruments that can be played at church.  Maybe it’s teaching a class.  Maybe it’s NOT teaching a class, until the Stuart Sutcliffe of the Sunday morning 7^th Grade class moves up to teach another class.  Then someone calls you, and you fill in.  Did feel called and go volunteer?  No.  Are you happy to do because it needed to be done?  Absolutely!  Because I can, so why shouldn’t I?

My point is:  Not everything comes to be because you felt called to do it.  When I started writing these devotionals (almost two years ago, now), it was because I felt the calling to do something.  At the time, I didn’t know what…then I figured it out.  Here we all these devotionals later and I’m still doing it.  But it’s not always a situation where you feel compelled to act.  Paul didn’t feel compelled to act when he was travelling down the road to Damascus, did he?  I’d say not.  Well, not compelled to go preach the Gospel, anyway.  Maybe he was compelled to go persecute those crazy Jesus followers.  But sometimes you get asked to fill a need in the church.  And how do you respond to that?  If you can, why shouldn’t you?

Maybe you’re placed in a situation outside of church.  Maybe it doesn’t seem like a “churchy” situation at all.  But do you step up and do the job you’re called to do as a Christian?  Would you do it even nobody ever notices you doing it?  Would you do it if name never got mentioned in the church bulletin or if you did it and nobody ever even knew at all?  Because being honest, there’s a lot of that going around.  Lots of people doing things just so that people can see them doing it.  Jesus addressed that in Matthew 6 when He said that if you helped the needy just to be noticed, that surely you’d gotten their reward in full – when you got noticed.  Somehow we’ve drawn an imaginary line between Christianity “at church” and “out there.” But we’re to be Christians all the time.  So if you can be Jesus to someone needing Him, why shouldn’t you?

Listen for the Whisper that sounds like Paul playing his bass.  Sure we’d all like to be the lead singer, or the guy playing the smokin’ guitar solo.  I’d even love to be Animal from the Muppets bashing away on the drums.  But there always needs to be someone playing bass if you want it to all sound right.  Whether you feel called to play bass, or simply playing it because you needed to when someone asked you to, God always needs bass players.  And while the bass players may not get the same recognition as the others from the crowds at the concerts, God notices them.  Help Wanted! God needs bass players.  Why shouldn’t you?

~Dwayne

ListenForTheWhisper@comcast.net
http://listenforthewhisper.blogspot.com