On
this day in 1950, the comic strip Peanuts was introduced to the world.
Peanuts was the creation of Charles Schultz. Charles was born in
Minnesota and was an only child. His uncle gave him the nickname Sparky,
a name that would live with him his whole life. Schultz developed a love
of drawing at a young age. He would spend hours drawing the family dog,
Spike. He would go on to serve faithfully during WW II. After
the war, he moved into a small apartment with his father. Charles was
struggling with depression and loneliness which stemmed from his mother’s death
shortly before he left for the military. It was during this time that he
started to draw a weekly cartoon for the Saint Paul Pioneer Press. The
comic strip was called Li’l Folks. It only earned him $10 a week but he
found great joy and fulfillment in it. He drew that cartoon from 1947
until 1950. This comic strip would be the one that introduced the world
to Charlie Brown and it had a dog that looked very similar to Snoopy.
Finally, in 1950 a large newspaper syndicate signed a contract with Schulz to
produce cartoons under the name “Peanuts.” Schulz originally bulked at
the offer because he wasn’t allowed to name the new comic strip and he despised
the name of the strip throughout the remainder of his life. Peanuts first
appeared in seven national papers and took a while until it gained
traction. Soon names like Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Peppermint Patty, Linus,
and countless others became household names. At its height Peanuts was
published in 2600 papers in over 75 countries. Charles would draw nearly
18,000 Peanut comic strips over the course of its 50-year run. During
that time, he only took one vacation.
My
personal favorite character in the comic strip was Linus van Pelt, the brother
of the brutish Lucy who often tormented poor Charlie Brown. Linus was Charlie
Brown’s best friend. He would often serve as Charlie’s own personal sage,
philosopher, and resident theologian. Linus was extremely wise and
intelligent for his youth. Charlie Brown’s life was fraught with anxiety
and failure. Linus would often be that anchor of advice and good
counsel. But despite all of his confidence Linus always clung to his blue
blanket. Almost every depiction of Linus in the series has him totting
his security blanket. The blanket is often a target of attack by
Snoopy. Snoopy engages in some entertaining, albeit crazy schemes to
relieve Linus of his blanket….to take his security. We also have an enemy
who is constantly trying to steal the confidence of our security in Christ; his
name is Satan. The Bible gives overwhelming evidence that once we are
saved we are secure. Our salvation isn’t a trifle that can be lost nor
can it be stolen or forfeited. But that doesn’t mean that Satan won’t
bring us to moments when we doubt if we truly are saved. It’s good at
times to reflect and be grounded in the reality of our salvation. Indeed
we have to be sure that we are saved by grace through faith. We want to
know that we are saved, but once we know, we can’t afford to allow the assaults
of despair and doubt to strike us. In our defeat and failure Satan will
whisper in our ear that God has rejected us, that we aren’t truly saved, and
that we are not a child of God. He will scheme to try to pry us away from
the assurance that we have in Jesus’ finished work for us. How can we respond?
Paul gives us a solid reminder in Romans 8:38-39 “For I am persuaded that
neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things
present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing,
shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our
Lord.” Paul says he is convinced that NOTHING will ever be able to
separate him from God’s love. Satan will shoot fiery dart after fiery
dart attempting to get us to question our salvation. Respond with the
truth of the Scripture, NOTHING can separate me from my God’s deep and
endless love for me!
Thank you, Matt! That was excellent. I posted it on my Facebook page!
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