Although I am not yet a parent, several couples I know have recently become first-time parents, and I have come to know that the time spent preparing for a new baby can be one of great joy. Often the preparation process involves getting the baby's room ready, buying plenty of food and diapers, getting baby toys and clothes, and other miscellaneous needs for the safety and well-being of the expected arrival. This process also reveals a lot about the parents especially in regards to their character.
In the first book of Genesis, our first glimpse of God is that of an expectant father. In fact, when we first see Him He is in the process of getting the baby's room ready, making sure that their is plenty of food, and even making sure that their is a safe place for the baby to play and grow. First he installs the light bulb and flips the switch in the empty room that will become the babies (gn 1.1-5) and then installs the door in the empty doorway (gn 1.6-8). Next He installs the crib (gn 1.9-10), brings home some food (gn 1.11-13), paints the room and hangs the wind up mobile over the crib (gn 1.14-19). He even gets a fish tank to stimulate the baby’s mind (gn 1.20-23) and makes a play area in the fenced-in back yard where the baby can grow and play in safety (gn 1.24-25).
The interesting thing about this is every time I have read or heard this passage read, it is always either in an emotionless tone, or that booming voice from the burning bush scene of Cecil B. DeMille’s 1956 version of “The Ten Commandments.” But reading this again, I realized that this isn’t some booming intrusive presence staring down, pointing, and commanding “LET THERE BE LIGHT!” No, this is an excited father hooking up a light switch, screwing in the bulb, flipping on the switch and saying “SWEET! This room is gonna rock! I can’t wait!” It like that awesome moment for you men when your wife surprisingly agrees to let you build something, and when you get out those power tools and think, “rock on.” That’s what God was like when he was preparing the world for us. This was some out of touch entity dispassionately painting a picture to hang on his wall where no one could touch it. This was an excited expectant father who was eager to pull out those power tools and build something for His son.
If we are created “in His own image,” which would include our blueprint for emotions, then our reactions to things like an expected baby are what they are because that is how God would react to it. Therefore, since preparing for the arrival of a new baby, especially the first child, can tell a lot about a person’s character, the character of God can be seen all around us. The attention to detail that He put into His crafting of everything speaks for itself every time you see a breathtaking sunset, look closely at the intricacy of the veins of a small leaf, or think about how amazing and wondrous all of things that are required for the human body to function in all of it abilities. That is the character of God; not a “AND THUS IT WAS GOOD…” but an “awwwee-some! This is sooo sweet!”
Friday, December 5, 2008
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Faith and Life
“And.” How many times a day do you say the word “and;” how about thinking it, writing it, or even acting it out? Does it matter? Maybe, that depends on what it means; do you know, or has our fervent use of this simple little word diluted our awareness of its presence in our everyday lives to the point where we no longer take the time to understand this word or the implication of its use, but instead insert it where we think that it sounds the most appropriate? Perhaps. As a conjunction it is used to connect words, phrases, or clauses that have the same grammatical function, to imply different qualities in things having the same name, to introduce a sentence implying continuation, to connect two finite verbs, to introduce a consequence or conditional result, to connect alternatives, and to introduce a comment on the preceding clause. As a noun it means an added condition, stipulation, detail, or particular; it also means a logical operator that returns a true value only if both operands are true1. Now knowing exactly what the word “and” means, can it possibly be used correctly in the above title “Faith and Life?” Does the word “Faith” have the same grammatical function as the word “Life?” Do they imply different qualities in two things having the same name? Are they connected, a continuation of one another, an alternative to each other, or each a comment of the other? Are they a condition, stipulation, detail, or particular, or possibly, even the logical outcomes of one positive returning to the other an equally positive result? A renowned teacher once wrote, “…faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not see2.”
No matter who you are, where you’re from, or what you believe, you have hope for your life and things that you are passionate about / have conviction for and therefore have at least a semblance of faith. The question you then have to ask yourself is “where did that faith come from and how do I live it more readily?”
The word “Interlinear,” which comes from the Medieval Latin “interlīneāre,” means “to mark or inscribe between the lines1.” What does faith, real faith, look like when it is inscribed in between the lines of the story of our life? And is that faith relative to our own individuality or is a part of a greater absolute truth?
That is what we’re going to find out. Next time.
God Bless,
Ross
1Definitions taken from Dictionary.com
2Hebrews 11:1
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