Genesis 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light, and there was light. And God saw that the light was good.
Our world is not the best place for fostering the belief in miracles. It is ironic, really. When we are children there seems to be a collective effort to teach us to believe in miracles. Some true, some not. Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, David and Goliath, Jonah and the whale and the parting of the Red Sea are all talked about as if they are indisputable facts. Somewhere along the path of growing up we lose our childlike sense of wonder in this life.
Sometimes an older child tells us that only babies believe in Santa or we wake as our parents are exchanging teeth for quarters under our pillow. And suddenly the magic is gone. The veil is lifted and we realize that we have been deceived by those we trust most in life. It is time to grow up and face reality.
Sometimes the same thing happens in our church and in our relationship with the Lord. The older and wiser children of God explain away our miracles as "Old Testament" saint happenings. Some say that Jesus walked on water metaphorically or that maybe these things really did happen but they were for a season. You know, just to establish the church and get us going and that now we live in the era of faith. It is complicated, you see. Full of symbolism and metaphors.
Sometimes it happens when we catch our parents in the Lord sneaking their hands out of things other than children's pillows. Sometimes they are caught in larger lies and things that are just a little harder to explain and just like that, our fascination with "religion" is gone also.
So we go to church, read our Bibles and pray much the same way that we still celebrate Christmas. With dinners, presents and a tree. But something is missing.
It is the magic. We go through the motions but there is really no power there, no real joy. Things are done for the children's sake or for appearances but after all...there's no such thing as Santa.
How sad. And how common. For us. For the Church. For God.
Father thank you for the ones in our lives who believe that You are still a God of miracles and a God who honors childlike faith.
Matthew 18. Truly I say to You unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Hebrews 13 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Genesis 1 And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good.
No comments:
Post a Comment