Inside the fence…
I’ve told this story before. I’m not sure why I should tell it again, but here we are. Maybe it’s my story now, not just one I tell.
It was a day like yesterday.
Fall is beginning here in the South. Georgia, to be exact. It was warm, but it started out cool. A perfect Fall day. I started the day on the porch. I’ve got my coffee, a glass of water, and my thoughts. Sometimes my thoughts are like the squirrels that I can see. Jumping from branch to branch, sometimes landing on the deck beyond, sometimes on the ground looking for food. ADHD in a way, although I don’t really suffer from that. It is just what my thoughts seem like.
I’m reading scripture. Right now I’m reading Matthew and Isaiah. Matthew 13 was what I read this morning. Matthew had written down some of the parables that Jesus used to fill us in on the Kingdom of God. Verses 10-13 are the conversation Jesus had with his disciples.
10 His disciples came and asked him, “Why do you use parables when you talk to the people?”11 He replied, “You are permitted to understand the secrets[a] of the Kingdom of Heaven, but others are not. 12 To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them. 13 That is why I use these parables, For they look, but they don’t really see. They hear, but they don’t really listen or understand.
Jesus told the disciples many things he didn’t tell the crowds around him, but we are told some of the conversations he had privately. We can see and listen if we want to. Now, to the story that started me thinking.
I came to the playground with my granddaughter. As we got out of the truck, she was talking (as usual) and I was listening (sort of). I opened the gate, and we stepped into the part with the slides, swings, and monkey bars. She looked up and said, “What do you want me to do?” At first I didn’t understand the question, but then it was clear. She wanted to know where to start. Instead of telling her what to do, the conversation went like this.
She asked, “What do you want me to do?”
I responded, “What do you want to do?”
She was looking for direction, approval, and answers. Instead, I gave her a limit.
I said, “You can do whatever you want as long as you stay inside the fence.” I gave her the choice.
God is like that, I think. So many times, we wait on God, and I think he is waiting on us. We are created in his image. What that means, in part, is we are given autonomy. He gives us direction but not the destination. Freedom. He gave us rules in the beginning, but those rules were for a people who didn’t know how to live independently. “Thou shalt not” rules, and we think those still apply. They do, but there is more. Jesus took it farther. “Thou shalt not commit adultery” became more than just an act. It became a thought. Jesus said that if we lust, it is the same thing.
You might think that is impossible. We can’t control what our minds do, but I think we can capture those thoughts and stop going down that path if we want to. We’re not going to do it perfectly, but we can derail those thoughts. We can, and I think that’s what he wants. To realize there is a fence, put there for our protection. Limits on our sinful nature. We are not going to do it perfectly, but we can confess to him when we don’t, and we get to try again.
People have likes and dislikes. We can like chocolate. We can dislike vegetables. We can want a red car instead of a black one. It is not sinful, but if we can’t afford the car, it is. I think if God wants us to get a particular color, he will make it apparent to us, but otherwise, we can get what we like. That is what we get to choose as long as we stay “inside the fence”.
This is incomplete. It is not all of what God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit have to say, but rather it is the wanderings of my thoughts. I encourage you to ask God and I believe he will answer. Persist in asking. Don’t quit, and you might just discover what he has for you. A direction, not a final destination. That is part of the adventure of a relationship with our Creator!
Do you have a relationship with God? With Jesus? If you want to know more about that, call me.
Thanks for listening.