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.
posted by Finney @ 4:41 PM
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