Note: This is something I wrote a few years ago when my oldest child was 2 years old.
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A realization dawned on me the other day when I was around the house with my 2-year old son…he only knows me as “Dad.” He knows what I look like, the sound of my voice, that I like to play and wrestle with him, and that my name is “Dad.” He doesn’t even know my full name. To him I’m just “Dad.” And I’m more than ok with that. He’s my son and I love him.
But, Inevitably he’ll grow and learn this whole “life” thing, and with that will come a better understanding of who exactly it is that I am. For the rest of his life I will teach him who I am, both passively (in how he observes me to be) and actively (in what I impart of myself to him).
And this is exactly how things work with our Father above. When we’re still young believers, we often place ourselves under too much stress to try to know everything there is to know about God, the Christian worldview and doctrine…we want to know all the “what’s” and “how’s” of being a proper super-Christian. God wants us to be a shining light but we would rather be a blowtorch instead. Because we want to please Him – we want to impress Him.
Well my little guy doesn’t really know all that much about me, or anything else for that matter – but I am absolutely pleased by him. And even though they’re not always spectacular, I am still impressed by all the “little” things that he is learning. Every day he’s developing right in front of my eyes and that’s enough for me.
What we fail to realize is that – especially at the early stages of our faith walk – we just need proximity to God, to be in His presence, to learn His voice, accept His provision, take His guidance, and most of all, to experience the fullness of His love for us. That’s all that we require of our children when they are young, after all.
We don’t expect 2-year-olds to understand the ins and outs of the family finances, nor expect them to be able to handle the various logistical tasks that are involved in taking care of a household; and neither does God. Sure, we will eventually be called upon to bear the weight of greater responsibility, but early on there is nothing wrong with being babe-like. Our early faith walk is not unlike our physical formative years, it is during this time that we should be learning and building a firm, stable foundation for our lives; and it’s on that foundation we will develop our ability to love, to learn, form meaningful relationships, properly understand our feelings and emotions, interact meaningfully and respectfully toward others, cope with change, discern right from wrong, and so on.
If we neglect to experience this babe-like stage of deep intimacy and full-dependence and try instead to jump straight into “I Got This” adulthood, we miss out on the crucial building blocks necessary to grow into the deep, mature person that God has planned for us. Not to mention, we will miss the single most crucial thing of all: God himself.
Here’s the thing…even though we’re completely reliant on God as babes, as mature Christians we will still be just as reliant as we ever were as young Christians.
And that is why it is so important to know exactly what it is like to be a babe in Christ. It’s important to know how to be completely still and listen to God – to listen to how he speaks to you through His word as well as through the people and circumstances around you; it’s important to know how to simply spend time with Him and talk with Him as a loving Father.
The truth is: If you’ve never just sat and enjoyed God’s loving presence in your life then it will be impossible for you to help others feel it an any meaningful way. If you’ve never really felt His Spirit move within you, then it will be next to impossible to help others understand when the Spirit is moving within them. And if you’ve never really understood the true forgiveness that He offers, it will be that much more difficult for you to impart that forgiveness onto others…I think you get the point.
I believe that God wants us all to be active, dynamic, vibrant, love-powerhouses. But I also believe that what he needs for us to understand, before we can be those things, is that He loves us; He needs us to understand that He is there for us, always – even when we don’t feel like He is; He needs us to understand that He is not some “Great Taskmaster” or rule-keeper, but a shelter, a comfort, a provider, and an encourager; He needs us to understand that before we can fully know and appreciate Him as “El Shaddai”, “Adonai”, and “Yahweh”…we must first experience Him as “Dad”.
-Alex
——————-prayer——————-
Father I ask that you open the hearts of those reading this to make themselves like children again. Help us all (myself included) to know what it is to be child-like and fully dependent on you and only you. Give us hearts to want to simply enjoy you and always be in your presence; to want to talk with you about anything and everything — good and bad.
Father open up your people to receive your loving fatherhood in our lives again or for the first time.
Help us to stop: trying to gain your approval by our religious activity
Help us to stop: focusing on things related to you, but not You
Help us to stop: hiding from you in the shame of our failures and inadequacy
Help us to stop: resenting you for wrongs (real or perceived) that we’ve attributed to you
Help us to: get to know you — not the things we think you want, or the things we think will make you happy — just you Father.
Amen