FINDING PLAY IN GOD

Children are blessed. I believe they are the ones that resemble our Lord Jesus the most; they are carefree, playful, and full of life; simply put, they are innocent. That is until they start to grow and we infect them with the Law based system of this world.

Being a father has made more keenly aware of the world of children. I look at my son and I see a perfect example of the kind of lifestyle the Lord lives and advocates; a life that is fully satisfied and basking in a loving relationship with the Father. My son doesn’t worry about anything. Somehow, he knows that we will address his discomfort when he expresses it. And he plays, oh my, does he play. His play is wild-eyed, loud, and nonchalant; he doesn’t even care for his own personal safety. He has no cares in the world. When he hurts himself during play, all he does is cry because he’s in pain and then he just resumes whatever he was doing (By the way, child psychologists have discovered that children recover swiftly from emotional trauma once it is addressed quickly)

I believe the Lord wants us to have this childlike state of innocence. Not childishness, childlikeness. A child is not at all concerned with the problems of this world. He just goes ahead playing. I believe God cares for this world deeply and shares that concern and compassion with us. I also believe that being grown-ups, we make wise decisions and calculated risks, with a reasonable concern for our personal safety and the safety of our loved ones. At the same time, we are supposed to grab hold of the joy and play that exists in the Trinity. We are to declare that whatsoever contradictions we encounter will not distract us from the bliss, the joy, the wild-eyed happiness that exists in the Trinity. We are partakers of this happiness in Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit and now we rejoice in knowing the unfettered and unconditional love of God the Father.

It’s unfortunate that many of us cannot do this, we are too damaged. I think that’s why Paul tells us to set our minds of things above (Colossians 3:1-3) and to concentrate on things that are lovely and of good report (Philippians 4:8), in other words, keep your mind focused on the Gospel. It is easy to lose focus and be distracted by the bad reports of this world, the general downward spiral of things, the economy, and our personal tragedies. We need to always remind ourselves of the Gospel, always keep our hearts rooted in one unshakeable fact. God loves us and he will never stop loving us. He has our back, He’s on our side, and He’s working to make everything right. When we keep our minds stayed on the Gospel, then we can obtain that childlike sense of innocence and play