When I left my son at 9:30 PM, he had his Bible folded over his chest, waiting for me to leave so he could wander over to his reading corner (complete with a beanbag chair and a funky five-headed lamp) and finish reading about the Passover. He couldn’t wait.
I let him read at night. As a precocious reader, he eats up just about any reading material we give him. I could no sooner punish him for staying up to read than I could punish myself for staying up to blog. Sometimes, you have to pick your battles.
This afternoon, he asked why serpents are evil. I told him God made all things good and that the snakes we see around outside our house keep mice in check. I mentioned that the devil took the form of a serpent when he deceived Adam and Eve, but the word serpent could be broader than snake. Then he asked to define the difference between a serpent and a snake. When I asked where he was getting this from, he mentioned the story of Aaron throwing down his staff and it turning into a serpent. Wasn’t Aaron a good guy? What was he doing messing around with serpents?
After his obviously faux attempt to go to bed this evening, he hopped into his beanbag chair and read through the Egyptian plagues, eventually answering his own question about the Passover. When I mentioned earlier that Passover started two days ago, you could see the excitement in his eyes. He thought it was “cool” that the narrative he now read just so happened to coincide with the actual events of thousands of years ago.
When the world was new to us, wonder filled every moment. Who knew what astonishing revelation might unfold before our wide innocent eyes. Magic filled each breath. Possibilities hid behind every corner, ready to unleash the supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
What a pity then that I read so many Christian sites on the Web and note all the child-like wonder sucked right out of them. How sad for us that we traded in our amazement at the mysteries of God for some cut-and-dried “faith” that’s overly diced and ludicrously dessicated.
I won’t hold myself up as the pinnacle of Christian practice by any means, but the older I get, the more I see God restoring the wonder in my life. Something about maturity in Christ recaptures our childlikeness, that winsome inner spectacle that never ceases to amaze us who are His dwelling place. Anything is possible! What can He not do? If we’re not tracking with that kind of “inverted maturity,” we instead turn into grizzled and bitter veterans of the spiritual war. I see far too many people on the path to that cold, hard anti-faith. God help them!
For the Christian, every day becomes that day when the world was new. If we’re living consecrated, abandoned lives. If we died at the cross.
I remember someone once telling me that the angels who worshiped around the throne always had that incredulous anticipatory glee about them… and when they sang “Holy, holy, holy…” it was really more like…
That kind of hit me… we should look to God with that incredible amazement… I think if we don’t… we aren’t close enough to really see Him.
Your post is beautiful! What a joy if must be to have a son such as yours who devours the Bible and is curious to know “why”.
The end of your post speaks to me as one who came out of a “gospel” that saved me from hell but did not lead me to the abundant life Jesus came to give. So many of our churches/denominations/fellowships preach only of the death, burial and resurrection as being payment for our sin (which it is, of course) but they fail to explain the Life that was resurrected on the cross. The Life that is offered to us if we only die to self, or live in “abandonment” to Him.
So many Christians live without wonder because they do not realize their full purpose here on this earth. We are temples. We are made for God. Not to strive in our own strength, but to deny ourselves and give Him reign over our lives to do as He pleases.
Thank you for the Truth spoken here. It is very encouraging to know you are “out there” preaching the WHOLE word of God.
Excellent post Dan! What a thrill it is, when children are engrossed in the word of God, what a blessing your son is to his parents. Thank you for this Dan.
Beautiful post Dan. Happy Easter and thanks for blessing us with your insights. I’m gonna go see what my son is doing tonight?