Coming to God as a Child (Part 7): Fix It

By David Ryser

It’s every parent’s nightmare.  Your young child has come to you with a broken toy.  As you peer down at the jumbled collection of wires, gears, and other assorted gizmos, your heart sinks.  What a mess!  Then you look at your child.  She’s trying to be brave, but her chin is quivering and her eyes are full of tears.  She looks up at you.  She believes you can do anything.  Then she squeaks out two little words.

“Fix it.”

Just thinking back on that scene, replayed many times, still makes my blood run cold.  And now I have grandchildren.  This means I have fresh opportunities to stare stupidly at the spilled insides of unspeakably complicated contraptions.

And into the eyes of a trusting child who wants me to, “Fix it.”

Jesus taught that those who wished to enter into the Kingdom of God (also called the Kingdom of Heaven) had to do so as little children (Matthew 18:3, among others).  One of the endearing--if somewhat misguided--qualities of small children is that they believe their parents can do anything.  Including fixing anything…especially a favorite toy.  And it doesn’t matter how it got broken or who broke it.

Anytime someone asks, “How did this happen?” that’s code for, “I don’t know how to fix this thing!”

When something is broken--a life, for example--why do we not bring it to God?  Unlike an earthly parent, God is able to fix whatever is broken in our lives.  And He’s good at it.  If not for “repaired” murderers, adulterers, and other assorted weirdoes, our Bible would be a pamphlet instead of a book.

Why do we take our broken lives to our friends instead of to God?

A two-year-old child would not take a broken toy to another two-year-old to fix it.  She takes it to an adult.  Usually to a parent.  To someone who knows more about it than she does.

Why don’t we take our broken lives to God?

From reading the Bible and life experience, I have discovered at least three reasons for why people do not go to God with their brokenness.

First, some people keep their broken lives as a pet.  They rehearse their troubles to anyone who will listen.  They do not do this to find a solution to their problems.  They do it to get attention.

One example of this sort of thing occurred when I was in Graduate School.  A classmate of mine worked as a prayer counselor for a nationally-known ministry.  His job was to answer phone calls and pray with the callers.  A person called one day wanting prayer that the Social Security Administration would approve an application for disability benefit payments.  This person was physically disabled, was unable to work, and needed the money.  The prayer counselor said, “I have good news for you!  You don’t need disability payments!  How about I pray that God would heal you so you could work?”  The caller responded, “No, no, no, no, no!”  Then the caller began speaking slowly as if to a dimwit, “I-want-you-to-pray-for-me-to-receive-my-disability-payments.”

There is no cure for this.  If you come across someone who is keeping their broken life as a pet, run for your life!

The second reason people do not bring their broken lives to God is that they do not believe God can fix them.  They don’t put it that bluntly, of course.  But when presented with the opportunity to dare to hope that their lives will get better, they begin to describe all of the reasons why God can’t fix them.  Why their situation is unique.  Why, in effect, their brokenness is bigger than God.

Jesus ran into this type of problem at the pool of Bethesda (John 5:1-7).  When He asked a lame man if he wanted to be healed, the man never did answer the question.  Instead, he listed all of the reasons why God couldn’t do it.

Like the man at the pool, people who believe their broken lives are bigger than God need to meet Jesus.  When they discover how big He is, the size of their brokenness is put into perspective.  What happens next is up to them.

The third reason, and related to the second, that people don’t bring their broken lives to God is because they believe God won’t (not can’t, but won’t) fix them.  Something they’ve done--some sin or failure--is beyond God’s ability to forgive and repair.  This mixture of self-centeredness, arrogance, and stupidity can be difficult to overcome.  I know…from personal experience.  Fortunately for people like us, the Bible is full of stories about people whose lives were full of sin and failure.  And God fixed them.  Some of them became heroes of the faith.

I have yet to run across a sin-paralyzed Christian whose misdeeds were worse than David’s.  Or a Christian whose failures were bigger than those of Abraham, Moses, Peter, or any number of people in the Bible who went on to greatness in God’s kingdom.

We need to get over ourselves.  The attention we get from keeping our problems as pets is pathetic.  And it’s temporary.  Questioning God’s ability or willingness to fix our broken lives does nothing to improve our lot.  No one ever received the help they needed from God by doubting Him.

And if we come into God’s kingdom as children, then we must come believing our heavenly Father can fix anything...and that He loves us enough to do it.

Responses to this article are welcomed.  You may contact the author at drdave1545@yahoo.com

Coming to God as a Child (Part 6): Catch Me!

By David Ryser

My one-year-old grandson was hanging upside-down as I held onto him by one of his ankles.  He was laughing and squealing with delight.  I was on the verge of having a heart attack.

And I was learning something about the Kingdom of God.

In Matthew 18:3, Jesus tells us that we must enter the Kingdom of Heaven as a little child.  I have discovered that little children do weird things.  For example, they like to climb up onto a couch or chair and wait for you to come by.  As you walk past them, they will leap from their perch and shout, “Catch me!”

Adults do not do this.

When you hear the words, “Catch me!” you had better be ready to catch somebody, because that child is already in the air.  The decision to jump has been made and executed.  Only the catch is in question.

And it is a question only for the one doing the catching.

My grandson played a variation of the “catch me!” game with his father.  When being held, he would suddenly launch himself backwards out of his father’s arms.  His father would catch him, and the two of them would have a big laugh about it.

The problem is that no one had bothered to tell grandpa about this game.

I don’t blame my grandson for this oversight.  He was only a year old.  And grandpa is the first person in a baby’s life that throws him up into the air and makes him laugh until he pukes.  So how was he to know of my ignorance?

Does this sound like a recipe for disaster?

So I’m standing in the middle of our living room, holding my grandson in my arms.  Suddenly, and without warning, he launches himself backwards out of my grasp.  Down he goes--laughing all the way--toward the floor.  I’m flailing in the air trying to snatch onto any available body part before he lands on his head.

At the last moment, I grab onto one of his ankles.

So now he is hanging upside-down with his head mere millimeters from the floor.  And he is laughing!  And it’s not just polite laughter…he’s cackling like a hen that’s just laid 3 eggs.  I’m gasping for breath (and trying to retrieve my wits) as my heart attempts to blast through my rib cage.

And as I look at my grandson, I realize that he never at any time thought he was in danger.  And I ask myself, “Why can’t I be like that with God?”

Because I’m not.

When I’m standing on life’s “couch” and God is passing by, I don’t leap and cry out, “Catch me!”  I don’t launch out for Him with total abandon knowing He will catch me.  Instead, I want to be sure He will catch me before I jump.  And I won’t just take His word for it.  I want to see in the Bible that He promises to catch me.  Then I want to go to Bible College to make sure what the Bible says is true.  And then I want to go to Graduate School to craft my theology of jumping.  And then…well, you get the idea.

By the time I’m ready to jump off of the couch, God has already moved on…a long time ago.

The problem is that we don’t trust God.  And where does this mistrust come from?  We aren’t born with it.  If we were, then little children wouldn’t play the “catch me!” game.  So where does it come from?  And when did it happen?

I don’t know.

By that, I mean that I know why and how this mistrust of God operates in me.  But each of us has a unique history, so the reason you mistrust God may be different than mine.  Whatever the source of our mistrust, we must deal with it if we are ever going to have adventures in God’s Kingdom.

And everyone has this problem to one degree or another.

How many times do we read in the Bible where God or an angel appears to someone and says, “Don’t be afraid…”?  Even after God gave orders to Joshua, Gideon, and others, He commanded them to be of good courage and dealt with their fear.  Paul exhorted Timothy not to be timid, but rather to be courageous in his ministry.

Why would it be any different for us?

If we are going to go on God’s adventures and do exploits in the Kingdom of God, we must learn to trust Him.  We need to overcome our mistrust of God.  We will face the source of our mistrust and overcome it.

And it won’t be a lot of fun.

We will need to be willing to see the truth about ourselves.  And the process will involve some pain.  Maybe a lot of pain.  But until we trust God, we will never follow Him with total abandon.

Like a one-year-old child flying out of his father’s arms saying, “Catch me!”

Responses to this article are welcomed.  You may contact the author at drdave1545@yahoo.com

Coming to God as a Child (Part 5): Mimics

By David Ryser

Somewhere there is a picture of me taken when I was a small child.  In the picture, I am wearing grown-up clothes.  And I look ridiculous.  In part this is due to the fact that the clothing is way too big for me.  And in part it is because I am wearing one of my grandmother’s old dresses!

That picture could be worth a lot of money if it fell into the wrong hands.  And if I had any money.

The point that I’m making is that small children love to play dress-up.  What parent has not been amused by their young child clomping around in their shoes or putting on an article of their clothing?  It’s not just that the child wants to look grown up.  The child wants to be like the parent.

And this desire is expressed in ways other than in the choice of fashion wear.

Children also copy the mannerisms of their parents.  Gestures and speech patterns, along with attitudes and behaviors, are picked up by children.  Every parent has experienced the discomfort of hearing the child say something that sounded clever when the parent said it, but doesn’t sound so funny when a three-year-old says it.

And sooner or later, every parent is faced with the truth that children do not grow up to be what you taught them to be.  They grow up to be what you are.

Why?  Because all children are mimics.

In Matthew 18:3, Jesus tells His disciples that all who enter the kingdom of Heaven must become as a little child.  In Ephesians 5:1, Paul encourages believers to be imitators of God as beloved children.  The Greek word translated “imitators” (or “followers” in the KJV) is μιμήτής, and is where we get our English word “mimic.”

We are called to be mimics of God.

How can we mimic someone we do not know intimately?  How can we imitate someone we are not around?  How can we copy someone if we cannot see or hear them?

We can’t.

If we are going to be imitators of God, we must find a way to be in His presence.  To see what He is doing…and how He does it.  To hear what He is saying.  And we need to be in an intimate relationship with Him so we can know His heart.

This is easier said then done.

A pastor friend of mine has determined that until God tells him otherwise, he is going to spend all of his Bible reading time in what he calls the “red print.”  His reading of the scriptures will be restricted to the four Gospels, with an emphasis upon the words of Jesus.  He wants to focus on what Jesus did and said.  As the Holy Spirit breathes life into the words on the page, my friend believes he will come to know Jesus more.  And the better he knows Jesus, the more able he will be to mimic Him.

It sounds like a good plan to me.

You see, having entered into the Kingdom of Heaven as little children, we begin to grow in the knowledge of God.  All good parents desire for their children to grow up and become responsible adults.  That little one clomping around in your shoes today will someday grow into them.

A friend once shared with me a vision she had concerning me.  She saw me as a little child with big shoes.  She said they looked like oversized clown shoes on me.  They were much too big for me.  I was having trouble just walking around in them.  As she was considering this odd sight, and wondering what would become of me, God spoke to her.  He said, “He will grow into them.”

I didn’t much appreciate it when she shared it with me.  But I’ve not forgotten it.

So although we enter the Kingdom of Heaven as children and maintain a childlike trust in our heavenly Father, His desire is that we grow in our knowledge of Him (Ephesians 1:15-21; 3:14-19, among others).  He wants us to grow into the “shoes” He has prepared for us.  He wants us to become and do what we were created to be and do (Ephesians 2:10).

He wants us to be mimics of Him.

God desires that we talk like Him, act like Him, and love like Him.  We are the only Bible some people will ever read.  We are the only Jesus some people will ever see.  When people observe us and get to know us, will this experience give them any inkling of what God is really like?

Maybe.  It depends.  How good of a mimic are you?  As good as a six-year-old?

Responses to this article are welcomed.  You may contact the author at drdave1545@yahoo.com