Life: A Children’s Story
Monday (November 24)
Life: A Children’s Story
Psalm 78:2-4
I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old, things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children.
As an author of fables that typically get pigeon-holed under the genre of ‘children’s literature,’ I relate strongly to Asaph’s above directive. I’ve found that how we relay God’s goodness is as important as what we relay. Truth takes shape through a story, doesn’t it. Black-and-white principles find color through examples. Think about it: you could give your five-year-old son an important mandate, “Don’t be selfish —share your toys with your brother,” and you can repeat that command over and over again till you’re red in the face, but it might get through better if you sat him on your lap and told him the story of a selfish dragon who wouldn’t give any of his gold to the poor or the church or the neighbors whose houses got hit with the flood; instead, he kept piling the gold and silver and shiny trinkets higher and higher in his cave, keeping it all to himself; but the pile grew so high that it eventually came crashing down on him and crushed him underneath. Well, maybe that’s a bit too dark for modern times. Perhaps you don’t follow Hans Christian Anderson’s method of scaring kids into good behavior! But the point still remains: we as people generally learn the rewards of good behavior and the consequences of bad behavior when we see them fleshed out in stories.
Our Lord set that example for us throughout His ministry, didn’t He? He didn’t merely tell people in black and white that God is a good Father; he gave an unforgettable parable of The Prodigal Son. He didn’t stop short at preaching how God loves to work in small ways, through small people, but He pulled out a tiny mustard seed and gave us an astonishing picture of just how low Heaven goes to redeem the world from the ground up. It’s as if He spoke to us as children, giving us pictures to go along with the words, because that’s exactly what we are to Him.
Friend, as you proclaim the truth of the gospel to your own friends and neighbors and family members today, don’t skimp on the illustrations!