This Christmas … and Always
.
The essential work of
Christ delivering us from sin and death, reconciling us to God, and healing our
broken lives and relationships comes with a playful, happy spirit. When you
read the Gospels and see Jesus blessing children, don’t imagine he’s doing something
solemn in a religious way — He’s smiling, laughing, hugging, and playing with
them! He’s glad to be with them! They’re having fun together! Fun is an
important way that Jesus shows us his Father’s love.
by Bill Gaultiere
The
Christmas Gospel shows us how very fun God is.
Appreciating
the Lord’s fun-natured personality can have a huge positive impact on our life
and ministry to others.
We
expect God to be a judge, holy, all-powerful, all-knowing, everywhere present,
eternal, and totally loving.
But is
God really fun?
That
sounds nice, but it seems to diminish the Divine Being.
We’ve
read theology books on the attributes of God and fun does not make the list!
Sometimes
we who are Bible teachers or pastors are stuffy and wrong! The
truly serious and urgent nature of our work weighs us down.
But if
we read the Gospels soulfully, we see that Jesus, the eternal God in human
flesh, not only fulfills the standard list of divine traits, he is also happy,
affectionate, surprising, playful, funny, and fun!
New
Life, New Excitement
As new
grandparents, Kristi and I have a fresh excitement for Christmas.
Eight-month-old
Juliet reminds us that the child Jesus is a special source of bonding and fun
for us.
You can
hardly know and love a child if you don’t play with them.
They’re
all about sharing smiles, cuddles, wet kisses, made up games, funny faces and
sounds, friendly teasing and tickling, imaginative stories, and surprise gifts.
When we
greet little Juliet we show her that we’re really happy to see her and ready to
play and so her face lights up!
We’re
bonding with her by entering her world and using her language.
It’s
also true in our adult relationships that we feel most loved when someone is
happy to see us.
Our
best friends are people we enjoy being with.
Our
most productive work has a playfulness about it.
Sermons
that are enjoyable have way more impact than those that aren’t.
Even in
times of grief, we need to share a sense of humor with each other to lighten
our load of sadness.
Not
Just an Infant
The
holy Son of God is truly fun — not just as an infant, but all through his life.
The
essential work of Christ delivering us from sin and death, reconciling us to
God, and healing our broken lives and relationships comes with a playful, happy
spirit.
There
are so many stories of the Lord Jesus being fun-natured.
My
favorite is when the religious authorities came to collect the temple tax from
him.
He
tells Peter to go fishing and then he directs a fish to swallow a coin and bite
the worm on Peter’s hook! That is so funny! (Matthew
17:24-27)
When
you read the Gospels and see Jesus blessing children, don’t imagine he’s doing
something solemn in a religious way — He’s smiling, laughing, hugging, and
playing with them!
He’s
glad to be with them! They’re having fun together! (Mark
10:13-16)
Fun is
an important way that Jesus shows us his Father’s love.
It’s
part of Jesus’ message that the Omni God is our Abba, our dear Papa. (Mark
14:36, Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:6)
(Just
writing “Papa” makes me smile because
that’s what my little granddaughter calls me!)
If
you’re not enjoying God’s fun side, you need to rediscover your “inner child.”
Find a
child to play with and read the Gospels in a children’s Bible.
If you
still feel stiff and serious, or like God is distant and ecclesiastical, then
you need to receive the playful and enthusiastic care of a friend as God’s
grace to you.
Pray this prayer: “Holy Spirit, this Christmas show us the fun nature of Jesus and help us to receive this as God being our Abba. Amen.”
As
doctors of psychology and spiritual directors, Bill and Kristi
Gaultiere have developed a unique model of ministry called Soul
Shepherding, that cultivates intimacy with Jesus, emotionally healthy
relationships, and fruitful ministry. They minister to pastors, leaders, staff
teams, and churches, helping believers to thrive with Jesus in life and
leadership. Learn more about Bill and Kristi Gaultiere at SoulShepherding.org.
https://inspiration.org/christian-articles/god-is-fun-this-christmas-and-always/
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