A Play Date With God ...

In our day, we have introduced structure into everything.  Consequently, kids do not just spontaneously play anymore.  Instead tiger moms of every variety make appointments with each other to allow kids to meet and play for a designated amount of time, in a designated place, and sometimes in a designated manner.  When the time has elapsed, no matter where junior may be in the journey of play, play is stopped and junior is cleaned up and taken home, or to the next endless appointment in junior’s life.  One could make an argument that the play date may be more about providing some “me” time to mom or dad, than it is about junior getting to play.  Even in our school systems the time for recess is fast becoming entirely extinct, replaced by Gym classes with particular sports in mind.  What this toxic combination achieves is the death of spontaneity in junior.  Instead of finding creativity in play, junior is told what to do, who to do it with, what the rules are, and how long it can last.  Is it any wonder our educational systems produce a wealth of “in the box” thinkers?  But what if we brought God into this mix?

Bringing God into a play date changes a few ideas.  First, there is no age limit on who can play.  No matter how old you are, or how old you think you are, God is open for play dates with you.  Next, the idea of location is trashed.  You can play nearly anywhere, and in point of fact, playing is more about what happens in the release of your mind and body, than it is about finding a swing-set and monkey-bars before you go crazy.  Finally, there is only one guiding rule, or principle, or set of ideals … to love others more than anything.  Once this concept can be grasped, there ARE NO RULES.  Yes I understand may be making parents very uncomfortable, and likely a good number of church goers, but stick with me for a minute.  There are no limits and no rules in all the Bible about how much you can love somebody else.  Every rule, commandment, or admonition throughout ALL of scripture has only to do with protecting others from you loving you.  Self-love has to be restricted because invariably it infringes on somebody else, hence the birth of sin itself.  But loving others has no limitations, or rules.  You can love God as much as you want.  You can love your kids, your family, your church, your community, and anyone you meet … as much as you want without limitations.  So when you are made free to love, you are truly FREE to love.

All of the sudden creativity is in the mix again.  I can begin to think about new ways to make you happy, that might take imagination, and paying attention to achieve.  Instead of buying your wife a dozen roses, and a box of chocolates for a holiday like Valentine’s and thinking you have done your “job”; what if you listened to your wife, really listened, and found out what she needs the most right now, and gave her that?  And what if instead of doing that only on a pre-ordained commercial holiday, you did it every morning, and every evening, to the point where you knew her better than anyone else on planet earth ever could.  What would that mean to her, in comparison with an annual duty and no heart in it?  To begin the journey into finding imaginative and creating ways about how to make someone else happy, and love them more than you will ever love yourself … is to begin to enter the Kingdom of God.

The Kingdom of God is NOT found beyond the gates of pearl near the throne of the Father God in a place called heaven.  It is rather a state of being, a state of salvation, where you have been saved from the slavery and addiction of self-love.  No one can enter the Kingdom of God on their own, only Jesus can bring you to this state.  Only Jesus can change what you want, and only as you let Him.  Only Jesus can teach you what it really means to love, and how that works with loving others.  Only Jesus can change the core of who you are, your desires, your actions, and your motives.  This is the nature of salvation.  We are NOT being saved from hell fires, we are being saved from me loving me, more than I love you.  We are being saved from “wanting” to commit sin, instead wanting something else, something better, something that benefits the life of another.  That is the Kingdom of God, and why Jesus announced it was here, all the way back in His first coming.  But to reach this state of being, this state of salvation, we must learn to rely upon Jesus to do it for us.  And childhood is the perfect analogy for how that works.

Peter recalled just such an analogy to John Mark in chapter ten and picking up in verse 13 saying … “And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them.”  These were parents bringing their healthy children to be blessed by Jesus.  These children did not have diseases that needed healing, the disciples would not have rebuked them for that.  The disciples were unpleased, because the children were healthy, and they figured this was a waste of Jesus’ time.  But in truth, the disease impacting these children was beyond the human eye to see.  The parents were seeking the blessing of the Messiah, and in so doing were on target to receive the greatest blessing of all, the blessing of salvation.

John Mark continues in verse 14 saying … “But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.”  Here was our God announcing that the Kingdom of God was made up only of little children.  Little children depend TOTALLY on their parents to care for them, love them, feed them, protect them.  If we are to be part of the Kingdom of God, we must look at Jesus as if WE are little children, totally in need from Him to do everything FOR us.  Little children do not get jobs, and pay bills, and fix food, in partnership with their parents.  Only when they are older can the begin to assume these roles.  We simply do not expect it from the 2-3 year olds, as their job is entirely being a toddler.  That is how our God looks at us, as a collective bunch of toddlers.  Asking a toddler to get a job, pay bills, and fix food, in order to “partner” with our God for our salvation is only going to mess it up more than staying out of it would have.  We keep holding on to the idea that “we” have some role to play about being saved from our sins, instead of just letting Christ do it for us.  In our efforts to partner with God, we only make a bigger mess of it.

But Jesus makes this even more important in verse 15 saying … “Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.”  For those of you who think you are mature Christians, think again.  For those of you who consider yourself, the Adult in the room, where it comes to life and church and mission; think again.  You are no more than a toddler, or you are nowhere in the Kingdom.  Notice Christ makes the imagery clear when He uses the words “little child”.  He does not say teenager, or pre-adolescent, or grown up.  He says little child.  The most key aspect of this is being fully dependent, fully trusting, and therefore FREE to play. 

These words of Jesus were not meant to inspire fear in us from doing it the wrong way.  They were meant to take the burden OFF of us so that we can have a play date with God.  The number one thing little kids want to do when they are awake and fed is PLAY.  The Kingdom of God is not composed of old fuddy-duddies who sit around looking to maintain the standards of the church body.  It is composed rather of little kids who get dirty, and play, and learn to love each other to heights no one has dreamed of before.  Kids trust God to maintain His own standards.  Kids would rather spend time with God, than sit around complaining the complaints of adults.  For as Jesus says plainly here, there are NOTHING but kids in His Kingdom, those who have been made FREE to love others.

But this lesson was not over yet.  John Mark continues in verse 16 saying … “And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them.”  In the Jewish tradition Jesus does not forget to bless the children He has been talking about, and making a lesson out of.  He holds them, hugs them, and then blesses them.  But what did Jesus have to offer these kids?  The blessing of Isaac on Jacob and Esau was thought to convey great wealth, and the continued ability to make great wealth.  But it was not.  Since that tradition was handed down, what was REALLY being contained in the blessing of a father upon his children starting at the firstborn was the “favor” of God.  In this instance Jesus is a pauper in material things.  He will have no estate to hand down or wealth to transfer.  But His blessing of “favor” with God, is eagerly received by the children, and their parents.  He is in effect guaranteeing the salvation of the child who comes to Him looking for it.  It is no different for us today.  He will guarantee what we have failed at for so long.  He will save what we could not save.  He will change in us what we could not change.  And in so doing He will FREE us into having play dates with God.

The beauty of having a play date with God, is that He is always ready to have one.  He will play with us anytime we want to play, and God does not get tired like normal parents do.  We can come alone, or bring anyone else we want to, to include them in our play date, all are welcome.  We can play anywhere we want to.  And once a week, for an entire 24 hours, on a special time He calls the Sabbath; the play time is amped up to unspeakable levels.  God puts aside His work, and focuses His attention solely on playing with us.  Think of it, for an entire day we get His undivided attention.  That is some major playtime folks, and He has a plan to continue giving us that focused attention for the remainder of time and space.  When God makes something, He makes it for eternity.  Loving others to heights you cannot even imagine, does not just happen here, it happens in that city we call heaven, and throughout the universe, forever and ever.  That action, that play date, is eternal.  For the Kingdom of God is eternal, even though it begins here it is a Kingdom without end.  A Kingdom made up of little children who love to play.  This is not language about a city, or of a far-off state of being, it is about the here and now.

This language is about freeing us to love others, taking the burdens of parenthood and placing them on God.  It is about giving us the freedom to enjoy His company, unburdened by our sins, for He takes our sins away.  Not just the record of what we have done, but the desire to do them again.  He frees us to not worry about sins we no longer commit, and no longer desire to commit.  This is His work, His freeing, enabling work, so that we are free to play with Him as often as we want.  If that is a play date, then sign me up …