| How Big
is Your God?
I was thinking back this week to a vivid memory
stuck somewhere in the outer abscesses of my brain to this one camp
I went on when I was in Standard nine I think (16 years old) - it
was called a Froggy Pond camp and was run in Cape Town (and still
is - well not the same camp, we had to let THOSE kids go home, but
a new bunch I'm sure!) by Scripture Union for underprivileged kids
and was sponsored by a local newspaper so the kids could go for
free.
Anyways, I was sitting with the director at
this table the one night when this little kid was brought in for
causing some disturbance and had to be disciplined by "The
Captain" as the camp leader was called (Why not the "Big
Toad?" who knows - I didn't make the rules...) and I remember
this little kid standing in front of this big imposing camp leader
waiting for his punishment...
And in the sternest of voices Bobby looks at
this kid and says to him in a gruff voice "Wys vir my met jou
hande hoe groot een kilometer is." [Afrikaans for "Show
me using your hands how big a kilometre is" - for overseas
types substitute "mile" for kilometre to understand the
concept]
It was the funniest thing - I remember seeing
him do it to two or three kids over that camp and probably even
more impressive was the one little guy who actually tried to show
with his hands how big one kilometre was - I thought he was in danger
of splitting into two pieces.
My question to you today is "How big is
your God?"
And as I remembered back to this story this
week for who knows what reason (this one maybe) I thought to myself
that in many aspects, for most people, as they get older their God
(actually their picture/ understanding of God) seems to get smaller.
I want you to take a moment and think to yourself,
really, hurtfully honestly, how big is the God you believe in/worship/serve?
I remember as a kid being told that God is everywhere...
I believed it then!
(Now? So often I live my life - speaking of
people, doing things, saying things as if God wasn't right there
listening to every word, watching every action)
I remember as a kid being told that God is omnipotent
or all-powerful....
I believed it then!
(Now? I get depressed or stressed about the
smallest problem or issue in my life... or I spend hours in argument
with people DEFENDING God and trying to prove He exists or protect
His name)
I remember as a kid being told that God is all
Loving...
I believed it then!
(Now? I spend so much time feeling like no one
loves me or that I'm not that special or important to anyone)
I remember as a kid being told that this life
is temporary and that God has got something far greater in store
for me...
I definitely believed that then!
Yet, now I spend so much of my life chasing
after money... or filling up my home with gadgets and toys... and
living an existence that seems very much focused on the here and
now with no thought at all of the real FUTURE...
You know looking at things logically it would
seem that I was lied to as a child... because I know that when you
get older you're sposed to get more mature and know more stuff and
have a greater understanding of life.
But in Truth:
LOGIC SCHMOGIC! It's adults that have been lied
to more. One of those lies is believing that we are more mature
and clever and wise than kids who "don't know better".
One of those lies is maybe still saying we believe each of those
"child statements" or having those truths as head knowledge
but completely and utterly failing to live out the Truths behind
them.
Jesus saw this trend in humans as they grew
up to become more self-involved and self-indulgent and self-relying
and less God-focussed and He clearly pointed out that children had
the answer...
"At that time the disciples came to Jesus
and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"
He called a little child and had him stand among them. And He said,
"I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little
children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore
whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom
of heaven. And whoever welcomes a little child like this in My name
welcomes Me." and further on "See that you do not look
down on these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven
always see the face of My Father in heaven." [Matthew 18:1-5,10]
A big problem in the kids of today is that adults
have tried to make them "grow up" faster and faster and
so there's a growing number of children who have even lost that
ability to just be kids. But we could do worse than tossing off
the cares of the world for an afternoon or a day in the holidays
and spend some time with kids taking in lessons from their innocence,
their acceptance, and their trust...
HOW BIG IS YOUR GOD?
Or more correctly I suppose, how big do you
allow your concept of God to be?
Perhaps it's time to open up that tiny box you
keep "your God" in and realise just how big God really
is - just as you cannot show with your hands how big a kilometre
is, how much less so can you show with your hands or your little
understanding how big God is.
Read your Bible, actually listen to the sermon
message in church, look at the words of the songs you sing in church...and
more importantly spend some time with Him - listening, walking and
appreciating His creation, meditating on Him and His Word... and
through that as you LET GO and let Him in your picture and idea
and concept of Him will slowly start to develop and grow and maybe,
just maybe one day you will be able to regain a child-like faith
in God and be released from all the garbage and lies of the devil
and the world that so subtly take control of you.
How big is your God? Mine is really really big
and I'm learning more of that every day, but still have a long way
to go before I can be fully grown up and be a child again.
God bless you He loves you and is dying to have
you know Him more.
You know what I mean?
<))>< Faithful In Serving Him ><))>
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