Today’s article is written by a guest, Jack Spencer, who is a husband, father, and organic church leader.
Have you ever thought: why did God enable us to have children? The first reason is that we image God (Gen 1:27). So just as our Three-in-One God created life in His image, a husband and a wife get to create life in their image (see Gen 5:3). The second reason is that the marriage of a husband and wife is actually a prophetic declaration of the Trinity and so we represent the child’s first understanding of the nature of God. But the third reason only came to me when God crashed into my reality:
I work full time, lead a church, run a ministry, have four children and a disabled wife. So to say my life is stretched is an understatement. So the weekend is often the time to catch up on all the house jobs that my wife can’t do and I don’t have time to do in the week…but the funfair had come to town and the kids wanted to go.
I didn’t. For me it was yet another job to do. So as I was taking them (which I knew was the right choice) I was less than gracious and I moaned to the Father that I needed help as I wasn’t in any fit state to show them love and teach them about how loving He is. His response caught me off guard:
“I didn’t give you children for you to teach them, I gave you children to teach you.”
Sorry God? What do you mean teach me? What could they teach me?
He was wisely silent. So I was forced to ponder what He was saying. We know that Jesus said we have to be like children to enter the kingdom (Mt 18:3), that the kingdom belongs to such as children (Mt 19:14) and that they are the greatest in the kingdom (Mt 18:4), but somehow we try and twist it to pick up one character quality that is acceptable to us adults.
Why? Because we still think that we’re better than them – after all we know more. We forget that children are equal (and indeed greater) partners in the Kingdom of God that doesn’t recognise things like age or importance. So perhaps we’re missing the really obvious: Children are really good at being children.
So I watched my children at the funfair and I chose to learn from them. I learnt that they had a lot of fun as they enjoyed the rides without a care in the world. And that brought me such joy.
I’ve forgotten how to play and I’ve forgotten how to be carefree. As the old adage goes: “We don’t stop playing because we get old; we get old because we stop playing.”
I heard of someone who went to a Bethel course and was mortified that one of their sessions was a trip to the mall to play hide-and-seek. But if you are prepared to humble yourself and play games with your children you will discover something that you have forgotten – the joy and fun of being carefree in the Presence of a good Father who holds everything in His hands.
Sometimes our seriousness is actually a smokescreen for taking on worries that should be left with the One who can actually do anything about it. Do yourself a favor. If you have children, take some time to play tea-parties, board games, GI Joe. Not for their sake but for yours. And discover the Father’s joy.
Jack Spencer is a child of God, a husband and a father of four children on earth and two in heaven. He hosts an organic church and leads godlysexuality.org which helps Christians discover the theographic nature of our sexuality and become whole, and helps parents to impart this godly view to their children. His work can also be found at the Godly Sexuality Youtube Channel.
http://www.godlysexualityblog.com
