Wonder
“This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?” God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what’s coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance!”
- Paul to the church in Rome
The first 40 years of my life carried a question, “Why me?” Poor me. Pitiful me. Why was life so difficult? Why did I feel so alone and why did life seem so unfair? Everything seemed like such a struggle and when I compared my life to others it felt so unfair and unjust.
The last 15 years of my life, I have been asking the same question, “Why me?!” Why do I get to enjoy such an incredible life? So full of friendship, mission, and glory! Such privilege and possibility! Why do I get to walk with such expectation of more and better just around every corner?
Ironically, only one thing changed, my perspective. When I step back and objectively look at all the circumstances of my life, I can’t really point to anything else being significantly different. Knowing that I am unconditionally loved and delighted in by my Father changed everything.
We were sitting with a group of leaders. The leadership video we were watching made an incredible distinction; there is a big difference between childish and childlike.
childish - folded arms, temper tantrums, frustration when things don’t go exactly our way, and an irrational fear of the unknown
childlike - innocent, expectant, questioning, the belief that good and better is possible (and maybe even likely)
Which one do you identify with most?
Having grandchildren gave me an incredible window into one of these. If you had asked me before, I would have said it would have been the former. We were over a decade away from diapers and tantrums with our youngest child when the grandkids arrived on the scene. I wasn’t sure how my 50-year old self was going to handle all that again.
Older men and women told us that the glory of grandkids is that you got to enjoy them like your own children, but without the diaper changes, behavioral challenges, or sleepless nights. That seemed to summarize what they thought was so great about them. And that is true.
But Paul more accurately identifies the glory of grandkids. The childlike wonder that he expresses to the Romans is supposed to be the natural and obvious reaction to what was accomplished for all of us by the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. And he’s not just talking about little kids. In fact, it is how we are all to approach life regardless of age or circumstance.
In the next paragraph, Paul tells us why.
“That’s why I don’t think there’s any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times.”
Because we know we are loved unconditionally and that there is a glorious inheritance coming, we should approach every day with that changed perspective. The difference between childish or childlike and even which version of “why me?” you live with is simply a matter of changing our perspective and owning our inheritance.
Consider
Is your current posture more childlike or childish?
Do you think your employees and family would say the same about you?
What do you need to do to recover a more childlike perspective?