People
like Paul are how I know Jesus is the Son of God. When God spoke to me through
Paul and his singular joyfulness, I was led back to the Bible in despair. But
lo and behold I discovered arms ready to catch me, arms I had forgotten, but
had not forgotten me. Behold, for I bring
you good news of great joy which shall be for all people! That is what I felt.
It is subtle and you cannot approach the pages with any sort of arrogance or
adult mindset; but if you read the fantastical stories in the Bible and if you
follow the God it speaks of—and who speaks—you discover something truly astonishing.
The
God of the Bible acts like a child.
The
God of the Bible acts like Paul!
He just wants to go on a date with
us.
And he forgives way too easily.
I mean, who honestly leads people
in a fire by night and a cloud by day? Who rains bread from heaven and says to
only take enough for one day at a time? Who is fiercely jealous for his
creation and especially those who are weak and helpless—children, the abused
and the marginalized? Who shows no distinction in the reckless sowing of
love—and calls it unfailingly eternal love? Who is so madly obsessed with his
broken creation that he would go to any end possible, even the amputation of
himself, to bring us back home?
Only a child acts this careless.
Only a child is this simple, this wild, this pure…
Our God’s nature must be that of
a child…like Paul.
And that is why only children are
allowed into his Kingdom.
And as I began to read more and more
chapters of this whimsical novel I began to enter another world. It was a
spiritual world where the visible things were untrustworthy and the invisible things,
perceived only by faith, were the very things most real. It was a fairy tale,
an adventure, a battle. It turned me on my head. Up was down, no was yes. Paul
was mature and I was his feeble pupil.
To die is to live.
You find
that in this Great Story, the Author constantly uses the foolish of the world
for his plans. He uses children to teach adults. He uses the downtrodden, the
neglected, to reveal his joyfulness. Fishermen are preferred, not Pharisees;
but not because Pharisees are too smart, but because Pharisees are too proud.
He cannot use the proud, proud Pharisees or proud fishermen. Generally though,
Pharisees seem to have a higher opinion of themselves than do fishermen. That
is why fishermen are preferred.
That is one of the main reasons
why I believe in this God and the Great Story he is writing. He does ridiculous things and it draws people
in. If for two thousand years people (fishermen and Pharisees) have been announcing
that they had an experience with this simple and joyful God and that they now
happily renounce all wisdom they thought they
possessed, choosing rather to enter the unknown and live by faith like a child;
well then that is quite an extraordinary confession. If one person said it, I would
not believe. But billions from all strata’s of life—smart and dumb, rich and
poor—and from every continent all are saying the same thing: they have met this
God and he is as foolish and as happy as the dawn. Too many adults have become
children again for me to discard this story as feeble superstition.
This Great Story was full of
creation, rebellion, blood, unquenchable love and sacrifice, treachery, sex,
adventure, war, good and evil, faithless characters (like me), faithful
characters like Paul, and this was all happening as directed by a child-like God
who created the world simply to live in
peace and joy with himself. It was the most miraculous fairy tale I had
ever read. Every inexpressible contour of my soul I found in the Bible. I found
it answered in spirit even when words could not articulate and better than any
other answer I had run across. I saw it bleeding in God, even when I could not
see God but only a man on a cross. I felt the peace of an adventurous heart
even when darkness reigned and my sin choked me blue.
And then I realized that this earth, this life
is but another chapter of the Great Story, as Paul taught me. In the most
poetic and child-like of ways, I realized that I was a character in this massive,
epic Story being written by God, as are all of us!
The words on the pages jumped off
and, coming alive, lodged into my very soul…and
began to transform it. The conceit of my matured heart began to wash away
as I trusted more in this resurrected Son of God, as I began to have faith in a
Father I could not see. I began to see the world as Paul must see it. My
childlike wonder returned and my soul began to be wrapped up into the Story. I
longed to love everyone and it did not matter who they were. I longed to
forgive and to be forgiven.
And this fairy tale, for there is
nothing more trustworthy than a fairy tale, became alive, because it brought me
to life. It brought everything to life.
This Great Story is about bringing the
dead back to life. This is the greatest story the world has ever known,
because it is the story of the world. I believe in this story because it is not
my story. It is His. He is writing it. He is bringing it to pass. I am just too
enraptured to stay silent.
But alas, I cannot explain it
well.
I
can only live it…and perhaps then people will understand.
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