Friday, October 05, 2018
Wonder-ful
Forty-six
eyes were glued to the presenter. Jaws dropped, and twenty-three first-graders leaned
forward, not even aware of the oohs and ahs that escaped their lips. Their
teacher breathed deeply, enjoying a rare moment of deep satisfaction. She had
finally found something that captured the imagination of every student. They were in a state of wonder, which would
hopefully stir up enough curiosity to motivate each of them to learn something
about rare, colorful lizards and how they hunt for food. It was a wonder-ful moment.
The
world is full of things people can explore in wonder. There are so many things
humans don’t know or understand about the world. We have still not explored all
of space or even all of our oceans. We still don’t know how to cure the common
cold or many other, more deadly diseases. There is much we don’t understand
about the human mind. We have yet to solve many social dilemmas. Life is
difficult for the unadventurous. It is stressful for those who feel the need to
understand or control everything. Because it is wonder-ful.
Most
of us happily engage in activities we don’t fully understand. We are involved
in relationships we don’t have very much control over. We use devices that are
so complicated we cannot fix them or figure out how they actually work. We live
in a world filled with wonder, embracing the unknown and pursuing the
unexplored. As a result, life is interesting, surprising and engaging.
Ironically,
when it comes to exploring God and the spirit world, people sometimes suddenly
demand to know and understand everything before proceeding. They often refuse
to believe anything they cannot control or at least graph and categorize. As a
result, Christians and churches sometimes feel pressured to stay in shallow
waters and avoid anything supernatural. But that was not the kind of
Christianity Jesus introduced to his followers. Jesus introduced an exciting,
miraculous, wonder-ful faith.
When
reading the Gospels and the book of Acts, it becomes obvious that Jesus and the
first century believers embraced things like the incarnation, deliverance from demons,
divine healing, the gifts of the spirit and the resurrection, as part of the
wonder-ful life of faith. The historical accounts do not record believers
asking Jesus to explain how he rose again, how he walked through walls after
resurrection, how he ate and was physically handled and then walked through
walls. They just lived in faith and
experienced the supernatural. They went on to die for a kingdom they could not fully
understand – because it was too wonder-ful.
Think
about it, if we understood it all, would it be all that special? I would rather
serve a God I do not fully understand than practice a religion made and
controlled by mere man. I am thankful for a wonder-ful God who I can trust with
all the things I can’t quite get my head around.
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