Pretending
This past week Claudia and I drove down to the Sacramento area for my nephew's daughter's high school graduation. We had a great time with family and lived through yet another grad ceremony, this one held in the King's basketball arena with a class of over 640 from Franklin High. Wednesday, on the drive down, we passed some of the time listening to a few Tim Keller talks from his podcast. If you aren't familiar, he served as a Presbyterian pastor in New York City from 1987 until recently, and remains one of my favorite speakers. Keller often unearths insights I completely miss and serves them up in the most relatable ways.
One talk was about us being children of God, and us being called to imitate him in our daily lives. To illustrate what that means, Keller reminded listeners that all children learn as they pretend they are more than they are, and then grow into that image. Like a young boy watching his dad shave and doing the motions with a spoon or a girl imitating her mom by messily putting on makeup. Neither quite gets it right but they are getting practice through their pretending for the time when they need it for real, and bit by bit we get better. The most powerful tool to growth is imitation, and the idea is to choose most wisely who we mimic. Keller, in this talk, was working out of Ephesians 5:1,2
Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly beloved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Many days and even more moments within those days I don't feel much like a child of God. My hands are dirty and my clothes in need of a good wash. But that's who God says we are and welcomes me and you into his life and encourages us to pretend we are more like what we will be than we currently experience. Paul writes, be imitators of God. We know of God through his Son, Jesus, so we look to him for a model to copy. We are still new at all that, so we will often smear the makeup and cut our chins trying to shave, but little by little we can get the hang of the whole Jesus-life thing.
Did you catch how we are described? As dearly beloved children. Not cringing servants or fearful followers, but as whom God looks on with love and care and genuine fondness. The Father is doing a bit of pretending, as well. The scriptures say that as believers, all of Christ lives in us, even his righteousness. So when God stares intently at you, he sees you enveloped in the righteousness of Jesus. He pretends we are just like him, and smiles. When we stumble, he corrects and disciplines like any good parent because of love. When we doubt and tremble, the Spirit of God encourages and holds us close and waits for us to grow into trusting his ways.
I think that seeing ourselves rightly as a beloved child of God stands as the essential starting point if we intend to live a faith-life worth growing into. You are his beloved. So, friends, let's get to pretending we are more loving and forgiving and encouraging and serving and generous and fearless than we are, and then watch how we grow into these traits. It isn't a check-list of duties and rules so much as worthy targets to mature into. Our best doings flow from our being a child of God, beloved by God. We do good things and live good lives not because it's "what good people ought to do" but out of a new way of seeing ourselves and the world...just like Jesus did. With the Spirit of God living in me as a holy guest, it just makes sense to keep growing in the best of ways.
So today, look for onramps to growing in godliness, with one eye on Jesus as your model to mimic. Cut yourself some slack when you blow it, because, after all, we are like that kid still learning to shave. Your failures do not change the Father's opinion of you since you are his beloved. Now go live it all out in the arena of your "today."
Music for the week:
Kirk and Steve laughing at themselves, but with a great message
A good friend, Chuck turned me on to Yasmin Williams. When you get 20 min free, give this innovative artist a listen
...and a funny-ish tale
Seeing a homeless guy begging on the street, a woman took pity on him and gave him a handful of change.
"Thank you," said the homeless man. "Your generosity is much appreciated. You know my life used to be great, but just look at the state of me now."
"How do you mean?" asked the woman.
"Well," he explained. "I was a multi-millionaire. I had bank accounts all over the world with hundreds of thousands of dollars deposited in each."
"So where did it all go wrong?" she asked.
The homeless man sighed, "I forgot my mother’s maiden name."