Childlike Theology

Children are such a blessing from God. I enjoy the two that God has entrusted to Melissa and me so much. I actually took my daughter (Laney) on Monday. We went to a movie, to eat and get ice cream, and we were supposed to go to Lifeway to get her a new book, but it was closed (Gustav...). She is so precious. The most exciting thing to me was how excited she was to go on a date with her daddy. I told her ahead of time that we were going to go (actually I asked her if she want to go) and she was so excited. I love that! Our date is not the point of my entry though...

A couple weeks ago, we were driving to visit some friends and we had some portraits Melissa shot of them to deliver. Laney asked a question in the car that really got my wheels spinning. While looking at the picture of our friends (one of our mentors actually) she asked, "Why do him love God so much?" She is 3 years old! But, something she has picked up about this man makes her think of someone who really does love God and she wanted to know why...There is a lot that excites me about that, but some things really impacted me personally. 

First, I realize that people really can recognize genuine love for God and people as opposed to rote religion in my life...even simpleminded three-year-olds. With this, what is it that people wonder about me and you? Do people wonder about our great love for our savior? Do people wonder how we live with such passion and zeal for our God and his kingdom? Does my daughter want to know why I love God so much? Does my wife? Do my friends? Do yours?

We let Laney ask our friend this question before we left that night and it was precious. 

The next morning I actually came to Psalm 116 in my quiet time. I found it really amazing that this very Psalm is the perfect response to this question: Why do you love God so much?

1I love the Lord, because he has heard
my voice and my pleas for mercy.
2Because he inclined his ear to me,
therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
3The snares of death encompassed me;
the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me;
I suffered distress and anguish.
4Then I called on the name of the Lord:
“O Lord, I pray, deliver my soul!”

5Gracious is the Lord, and righteous;
our God is merciful.
6The Lord preserves the simple;
when I was brought low, he saved me.
7Return, O my soul, to your rest;
for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.

8For you have delivered my soul from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling;
9I will walk before the Lord
in the land of the living.

10I believed, even when [fn1] I spoke,
“I am greatly afflicted”;
11I said in my alarm,
“All mankind are liars.”

12What shall I render to the Lord
for all his benefits to me?
13I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the Lord,
14I will pay my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people.

15Precious in the sight of the Lord
is the death of his saints.
16O Lord, I am your servant;
I am your servant, the son of your maidservant.
You have loosed my bonds.
17I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving
and call on the name of the Lord.
18I will pay my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people,
19in the courts of the house of the Lord,
in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord!

Next, and from these verses, I think about why I love God so much and why you should too if you are his child. God allowed me to recognize the snares of sin and death that entangled me. Man does not admit all alone his insufficiency, but for the Grace of God revealing it to him. Many will die sinners and separate from God and not really care much about it. I thank God that He loved me first and allowed me to see my helpless state, and even put me in a season of misery so I could recognize my need for Him.

Then he delivered me, as Paul puts it, from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of His beloved Son. He allowed me to recognize my misery not to leave me in it, but that I might know His deliverance. The gospel became real to me, not just religious lessons. Jesus saved me. He loved me while I was a sinner, spitting in his face and taunting him with my rebellion, he sent his son Jesus to bear the wrath and judgement of the father for me. 

He gave me a life that is characterized by love. I love him because he put his love in me...in the new life he gave me...when He brought me from death to life, to the land of the living. What a blessing it is to be a part of God's Kingdom! 

mw