Popeye lied to me…

Likely, you had a childhood hero who played on the silver screen. I had several: He-Man, G.I. Joe, and Popeye the Sailor Man. The first two remain heroes of mine, but not that Sailor Man—he lied to me. I still remember the day.

I had been watching him and those enormous forearms save the day time and time again after he ate his spinach. Moreover, he seemed to love the way it tasted. Well, I wanted to save the day and enjoy good food. My family had never served me spinach at this point, so I begged and begged until someone took me to Piggly Wiggly to get a can. I was so proud.

We got back to my Mawmaw’s house, and I had to have that spinach right then and there. She opened that can, put the powerful green wad into a pot, and heated it up. I watched with bated breath—come on, come on, already!

She plopped a heaping helping of those steaming greens in a glass bowl and slid it right in front of me. I was grinning like a Cheshire Cat! But when that spinach hit my tastebuds, I knew one thing: Popeye lied. This stuff was awful! There was no way he liked it, and I seriously doubted it made muscles.

Unlike me, Jesus knew better than to trust everyone. In John 2:23-24, the Bible says that “many believed in His name... But Jesus on His part was not entrusting Himself to them.” Jesus has an insight into the human heart that we do not have, but He has given us His Word and His Spirit to guide us.

I learned the hard way that you cannot trust a cartoon sailor, and I have learned in even harder ways that you cannot blindly trust every person you meet. I still love and trust folks, but they’ve got to get past the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of me first.

Be careful who you trust. If you are looking for the only one who will never let you down—Trust in Jesus. He’s the only one who is exactly who He says He is.