God - Mary's baby
It's amazing how every now and then, God does something that pushes back the limits of our imagination. A couple of nights back, I was thinking about the whole concept of us being His babies, and last evening, going back home from work, I was suddenly reminded of God coming down to earth as, you guessed it, a baby. I have just finished reading Lucado's "Just like Jesus" and compared to his books, this one is even simpler. The theme goes "God loves you just the way you are, but He refuses to leave you that way. He wants you to become just like Jesus" and the book is as usual, beautifully written. One of those sentences that really touched me was the way He portrayed God's eagerness to be with His ultimate creation. The book goes on to say how Jesus welcomed everyone who wanted to see Him. Everyone. It didn't matter whether the birthday present was gold or a surprised stare. It didn't matter if they were wise or foolish, little kids or grown up men, shepherds or sheep. What mattered was the heart, and I found myself wondering if, given the chance, I would have done so. Quite a hard one isn't it? After all, the busy, busy lives we live? That was when it struck me. The Creator of the universe, and He valued us most of all. So much, in fact, that He wouldn't mind dying for us. Wouldn't mind coming down to this mutilated creation of His, so you and I could see what He'd prepared for us all along. Sometimes, we can never understand the supreme sacrifice until we look at every jot and tittle of what He did for us. Thirty three and a half years in a place so full of darkness, hatred, jealousy, covetousness, falsehood... no matter where He turned, how far He went away to pray... And while we look toward our life beyond full of untold blessing - a place of perfect everything - perfect righteousness (no sin), perfect love (no lust), perfect peace (no fear), perfect joy (no sadness) and a million other adjectives - we need to realize just how painful it must have been for Him to come from such a place... But truth is, He wanted to! This is what I meant about God pushing the limits of your imagination and mine. The One who struts among the stars; who looks as us the way we'd look at human babies, loved us so much He was willing to do all this - give up heaven for a smelly manger and a lifetime of sawdust. And not one facet of what we've covered so far expresses His desire for our company as much as the next sentence. He began his journey to becoming mankind's Savior, as Mary's little baby. Ever desperately wanted a hug? a shoulder or a lap to sleep on? a good night kiss? little gestures of real affection? How unbelievable is it that our Savior did too! Or that He still desires such affection from each of us, His most favored creation?
God's babies...?
So, after another furlough, here I am with… babies? Believe me, it wasn't my idea. Never. Somehow you always relate poopy nappies and long hours with no sleep whenever there is a baby in the equation. Not that babies are not cute. Oh! the surreal joy that a baby brings into the family it comes into (after all, not everyone is expected to change poopy nappies…)! Those tiny little hands and feet, and wittle baby chuckles and smiles and laughter. The best things do come in little packages, holding on to mommy's little finger with a tiny little hand, eyes wide with expectation and mostly, nothing at all.
I'm sure many of you have a lot more to explain. I don't. The last time I saw a baby in my family, I was pretty much one myself . Sometimes, my folks think I'm still one. I'm not exactly what you might call the cootchie-wootchie sort but occasionally I try to be, at least, during those few moments before the baby takes one good look at me and next thing I know, the kutti volcano erupts. But all this is beside the point I want to make. And to be honest, I didn't even come up with it at all. Was discussing about God's love with Michelle when she came up with this idea. And because she let me use her 'baby', here it is.
I know there are a lot of you who take God's Word very seriously; some of you who may not; and then again, some who haven't found good reason to. Maybe it is your fault. Maybe it is not. I'm no one to judge, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit I've questioned the Lord a lot of times as to His promises and the lack of signs thereof. And then, let us not talk about the times I might have misread what He really was telling me. We humans have something in our defense – it is called 'selective hearing'. Hearing only what we want to hear. True. This could have worked in our minds, selectively absorbing what God said and at times, we can be positively deaf to what He tries to tell us. It can be as simple as looking at only the second half of Ps 37:4 or it could be deeper. But what I want to show you here is the fact that we tend to make more than one important decision based on what we interpret the Word of God to be. So, now, what if we've made a mistake? What if we've gone wrong in our calculations? And now, when things make us wonder if we're the ones to blame, what do we do?
There is a lot I have learned from Max Lucado's books. He has this unique (among Christian authors at the very least) way of sharing something so simple in a language so endearing, and God has really used his books to drive a point home. One of them was this. "God loves you just the way you are…" Lucado goes on to add that God wouldn't love you any less because you've been a sinner and similarly won't love you any more just because you pray more. His love for you and I is unchanging . And here, is where the baby comes in (after his day out?)
No matter how much older we grow, and no matter how mature we think we are, fact is, to God, we're nothing more than babies. Think about it. You're 23? He's upwards of 23 million. A thousand years of your time would probably feel like a minute to Him. He's beyond your math; Beyond your Physics; Beyond Einstein's theory of relativity. He's timeless! And in the eyes of such a Person, you and I are 'little' more than babies.
Now, remind yourself about everything you love about babies. Just incase you're worse than I am where Mini-me's are concerned, you'd do well to read (the second half of) the first paragraph again. Who's to say if God didn't create humans as babies if only to give us an idea of how much fun He has in watching over each of us?
I know I can add a whole lot more here, but I have a feeling the more I leave to your imagination, the better you understand God's reasons for creating you. As an example, you might realize that as much as you'd enjoy watching a little baby, there's always a much higher sense of happiness when the baby wants to come into your arms. Switch places. You take the place of the baby and God takes yours. Get the picture?
Truthfully, this whole baby episode was primarily about when you poop. And here's where God's love is most beautiful. So you've done something wrong. Your mind says you ought to have known. People around you say you should have seen it coming. And here you are, a cute, smelly little mess, or (trying to be a bit more ' grown up'), you've broken something and eyes wide with fear and guilt, you look up at the Father, and burst out crying.
Isn't that what we do? Get ourselves into cute little messes, often innocent, and often not, and look up toward the Man upstairs with guilt and fear, and not knowing what to do, burst out crying? "I'm sorry, but I thought…" or "I was sure I could do it that way…" or "Didn't you tell me I could handle it? Now look…" And so we go on. Mentally bringing up images of racks and iron maidens and torture chambers and… (I'm exaggerating here, but you get the drift)… And what does the Father do?
A vase broken is a vase broken. A pooped nappy is a pooped nappy. But the Father understands you're just a little baby. You may be covered with mud and slime, but underneath, the Father sees His little baby. And to Him, you are precious. Nothing you do could change the fact that you are His little child. A correction or grounding may be in order, but the Father's love is the same as ever.
"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." Rom 8:38, 39
Hoping there is more? Of course there is. Like every parent, the Father knows what's best. From clothes to mattresses to food to whatever-else-is-there, He takes care of it all. You reached out for a job and you mishandled it and it fluttered away? No fear. Reached out for a relationship and it er… broke? never fret. Daddy's here, and He knows better than to rake the coals on you for something you didn't quite understand in the first place. You're God's little baby, and you're gonna stay that way for a long time to come.
