The Miracle of Life
I love to play with Julia as parents do, giving her some attention and making her smile and laugh. She loves it when Sarah and I make eye contact with her and spend time holding her, talking to her and in general letting her know that she is loved. Often, when Sarah and I are cooking or cleaning up in the kitchen Julia will be in her swing occupying herself. From time to time she will start to “talk” to us letting us know that she has not been given any attention in a while. Often times just looking over at her and making some eye contact or saying a few words to her satisfies her that she has not been forgotten and that she is a part of what is going on. She is a very relational little child that craves our affection and our love. Her communication with us reminds me of our communication with God.
What she is too young to understand is how helpless she is to take care of her own needs. The other day when I was in one of these many moments where Julia was laying on the bed and I was playing with her I began to think about how helpless and utterly dependent she is upon Sarah and I. And then I started to think about how God refers to us as his children and how helpless we are without God’s help.
To be a child is to be someone who is deeply loved but deeply dependent on a parent figure to nurture us and to grow us into maturity. Everyone who believes in Jesus Christ is privileged to be considered one of his children, someone who is loved, nurtured, disciplined, and more often than not, helpless. God nurtures us and provides for us the things that we need, but just like a parent expects a child to grow and to develop so does Jesus expect us to grow and develop in our spiritual walk with him. We will always be dependent on his grace but there are many things that he expects us to learn along the way. If we are healthy children of God we will never outgrow the need for our Heavenly Father but we will outgrow many of the childish and foolish things that we have treasured over the years. If we are obedient, God will continue to forge us and to purify us leaving behind only purity and truth.
So Julia’s helplessness reminds me of my own helplessness but our love and care for her reminds me of God’s love and care for me. Our expectation of Julia’s development reminds me of God’s expectations of my development. Julia’s desire for and delight in relationship reminds me of my desire for a relationship with my Heavenly Father. I could go on because the illustration is so rich but I suppose I will save some thoughts for another note to all of you.
The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
Romans 8:16
