Huggable and Buggable

In Charles Schulz cartoon strip ‘Peanuts’ Lucy says to Snoopy: “There are times when you really bug me, but I must admit there are also other times when I feel like giving you a big hug.” Snoopy replies: “That’s the way I am…huggable and buggable.”  I think it’s fair to say most of us would fall into that category. Sometimes we are really good, pleasant and amiable.  At other times though, we can be snarky, moody and not great company. 

In other words, like Snoopy, we can be huggable and buggable. 

Peter was a bit like that. When Jesus asked His disciples, who do men say that I am? What is the word on the street fellas? They rattled off some of the prophet’s names. But then He said, “But who do you say that I am?”

Peter immediately said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus said to Peter that he was absolutely right, and the only reason he knew that was because the Father in heaven told him. (Matt.16:17-19)

At that moment Peter was huggable. He said the right thing. He was in tune with heaven. It was a defining moment. But then in just a couple of verses more, Jesus told His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer much, be killed and rise again the third day. Peter was horrified.  He took hold of Jesus and began to rebuke Him, (imagine rebuking the Son of God) saying, “be it far from you Lord, this shall not be done unto you.” 

In such a short time Peter went from being huggable, to now being buggable. Jesus was really upset, and rebuked him, saying, “Get behind me Satan…”  John became known as the apostle of love. It’s no surprise that when Jesus was on the cross that He chose him to take care of His mother for the rest of her life. John always seemed to manage to sit as close to Jesus as possible at the dinner table. Three times John addressed himself as, ‘That disciple whom Jesus loved.’ John was eminently huggable. But he wasn’t always like that. Both he and his brother James one day wanted to call fire down from heaven and burn up the Samaritans, because they felt they had insulted Jesus. This really annoyed Jesus. Now John is being really buggable. Jesus rebuked them, and told them they did not know what spirit they were of. (Luke 9:51-56)   

Whenever a new app or a new piece of technology is launched, there is always a period when, ‘the bugs have to be ironed out.’ These are glitches in the system that really do bug us. Getting rid of the buggable parts makes things go a lot easier and more dependable. Even within our redeemed human spirit there are still some ‘bugs’ that need ironing out. That’s why Paul lists for us the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-25. ”But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…”

God wants us to be more huggable and less buggable. 

- Pastor David Goudy