Who Loves You?

This past weekend I watched the movie "Alvin and the Chipmunks." I didn't really expect to like it, but I really liked the cartoon as a kid, and then I saw that Jason Lee was in it. It was much better than I expected.
For those of you that haven't seen it, let me just say that Jason Lee plays David Seville, who is a struggling songwriter. David has a friend in the industry, someone he knows from college, but even his friend won't buy his music. The friend, Ian Hawke, tells him that he doesn't know anyone who would sing his songs. Dave almost gives up, but then he meets these singing chipmunks. They will sing his songs, and even if the songs aren't that good (and they really aren't that bad), the fact that these songs are being sung by chipmunks will hook a lot of people. Very quickly, we grow to understand that the chipmunks aren't just a meal ticket to Dave, though; he actually cares about them, and tries his best to take care of them. Ian, on the other hand, is used to dealing with rock stars who get whatever they want whenever they want it, as long as they can continue to draw a crowd. Ian is more than willing to let the 'munks run wild. Alvin, Simon and Theodore, face a decision, whether to stay with Dave, who looks out for them, or with Ian, who lets them play with expensive toys all day long. Oh, and Ian has no heartache with telling them that Dave doesn't care about them at all.
It reminded me of an interview that I saw on the news some years ago: This TV news crew had tracked down some self-professed Satanists, and was interviewing them. These guys came up with the philosophy that God is evil. Their reasoning was that God tries to keep people from doing what they want, but the devil lets people do what they want, so it's better to worship Satan.
I have posted about this before, but, God loves us, and wants to take care of us. Remember John 3:16? “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Sometimes submitting to God’s will means not getting to do what we want, but it always works out for the best for all concerned (Romans 8:28). Jesus told us that God would have liked to have gathered the people of Jerusalem under His wings and protected them, the way a mother hen protects her chicks, but Israel was too stubborn and self-willed to allow God to protect them (Matthew 23:37, Luke 13:34). The Bible says that all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), but it also says that God forgives (Ephesians 1:7). In John 15, Jesus compares us to a tree, and he talks about branches that don’t fruit are cut off, and branches that do bear fruit are purged, that they may bring forth more fruit. I have to admit, that verse confused me at first, because I thought that to purge meant to erase, or get rid of, so if the choices are being cut off, or being purged, I’m not sure what the difference would be. As a botanical term, however, to purge means to prune trees and vines from useless shoots. In other words, just as any branch that’s not bearing fruit is cut off, any shoot from a good branch that isn’t helping also gets cut off. That’s not a pleasant experience, but in the long run, it makes the whole tree more productive: It’s not supporting dead weight. God wants the best for us, but that doesn’t mean that every day is a picnic.