She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not!

She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not!Dr. Vincent D. Hefner, PastorFirst Baptist ChurchCherryville, North CarolinaI guess it is human nature to want to find the easiest way to answer life’s hardest questions. When I was growing up and had a “crush” on a little girl, I was generally too afraid to ask her if she liked me. No one wants to be rejected by the opposite sex, even when you’re in the first grade! I had an older, wiser friend in the fourth grade who told me how to find out if the girl in question liked me without having to send her a note (humiliating evidence if she said “no”) or by sending a friend to ask her if she wanted “to go” with me. I had no idea where we would “go” but that was the term we used to let others know if we had a sweetheart. This is the sure-fire, no-fail test to find out whether the one you pined for pined for you - it is called “The Daisy Test.” You pick a daisy, pull off one petal at a time while you’re reciting the words, “She loves me, she loves me not.” When you pull the last petal, if you said, “She loves me,” it was the real thing. Who could argue with the “Daisy Test?” If you concluded with a “She loves me not,” then pick another daisy and start the process over until you got the answer you wanted! Looking back on it, I can’t remember whether or not the test was 100% full proof.When you give it some thought, the entire act was based on fate. At no personal risk you could find out how someone else felt about you while standing in a field conducting a scientific experiment! I eventually graduated from the “Daisy Test” and went to the “Eight Ball Test.” This sophisticated question-answer test was conducted by possessing a black toy eight ball that was filled with dark fluid and contained something like a dice with different answers written on each side. The process is as follows: You ask a question to the ball, shake it real hard, then look to the place where the dice would float to the window with your answer! However, much like the “Daisy Test,” if an answer appeared that was dissatisfactory, you then rephrased the question, shake the ball and look for the answer you were expecting. It could take several attempts to finally get the desired answer, but it beat walking all over a field looking for daisy’s while dodging snakes and yellow jacket bees. It’s amazing any of us made it out of the preteens!I’m sure there are other similar “tests” that people use in attempting to find answers to life’s hard and sometimes mysterious questions. I don’t believe there is an “easy” way to find answers to all of life’s problems. I do believe there is a “right” way to find the correct answers to questions. It has nothing to do with “daisies, eight-balls, cards, stars, etc…” It has everything to do with asking the right question to the One who knows the right answer, being patient and accepting the answer when it is given. John 3:1-21 tells the story of a man named Nicodemus visiting Jesus with a hard question, “How can a person be born again?” We must remember that Nicodemus was a religious and educated man who believed the way to enter Heaven was by external activities, such as performing certain acts throughout life – acts that Nicodemus thought would please God. Do certain things, Nicodemus believed, and Heaven would be his eventual home. However, Jesus told him the way to get to Heaven was to be spiritually “reborn” by repenting of sins and accepting God’s gift of forgiveness. Some people may not like what they hear, and they may rephrase the question, but the answer remains the same! Have a great day and remember, don’t give in to sin. Think about it!