Deep Fried Faith

Last week, was an annual trip to the County Fair.

 

Each year, I do a girls pilgrimage to the mecca of delights .  We shop, eat, browse, eat, walk, eat–and then repeat several times over.  Did I mention we eat?

 

Have you ever been to a county fair?  Fun, aren’t they? And I bet the fairs in the midwest are way different than the ones here are in Southern California.  But even so, boy have they changed since I was a kid.  Seems the “simple times” are no longer.  But then again, maybe my view has changed?

 

 

Probably like you, when I was a LOT younger, my interests were all about the Fun Zone—the rides.  I couldn’t care less what was in the exhibit halls or what animal won a ribbon, or what new gadget was being sold.  That stuff was for the old people. I wanted to get on those rides and lose my lunch!  And the icing on the cake would be to leave with a stuffed animal larger than a human being.  That was my idea of fun.

 

But now?  Well, now I don’t step foot in the “Fun Zone.”  Might as well call it the Scare Zone. You couldn’t pay me to get on those rides.  I’ve seen those things folded up traveling down the road from one fair to the next.  No thank you.  Nope, now I am interested in those overpriced gadgets, looking at the exhibits and most certainly eating the latest food find–deep fried, of course.  Am I alone in this?  Anyone, anyone?

 

As I walked the aisles of vendor booths, I got to thinking of how the fair mirrors my journey in this Christian walk.

 

“When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.” 1Corinthians 13:11 NIV

 

Just as my desires for “fun” at the fair changed, at some point  I had to put off childish ways.  I had to make decisions that had a much larger and profound impact on my life and eternity.  And I am certainly still doing those today.

 

Christ calls upon us to put aside childish ways.  He reminds us that we shouldn’t chase after the thrill of the rides for satisfaction and comfort, because they won’t last.  Only His promises are true.  Only His safety brings comfort. Only His Word is real.  Childish notions should be cast aside for the reasoning of what adulthood brings.

 

Now grant you, I can still be pretty childish in many ways, but the mature reasoning is what God requests of us.  Where children will have a lack of direction, so we can be sometimes too.  When we chase after what the world has to offer, or the latest greatest “spiritual” belief, then we are being childish.  We are putting aside our God-given levels of reasoning and choosing to act on whims.  That undoubtedly leads to pain, heartache, dead-ends, and eventually death.  Certainly, our God doesn’t want us to experience any of that.  But we kids will be kids and off to the “fun-zone” we go.

 

But I love how there is a contrast to what He doesn’t want us to do.  What He does request of us, is to remain child-like.

 

Huge difference.

 

“And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:3 NIV

 

His point being, when we are humble, teachable, simple, and unworldly to name a few—we are being childlike.  We are to stand in awe of His majesty and accepting of His direction. That is where God will meet us.  He calls us to come to him as children, but to put our foolishness aside.

From one big kid to another, I encourage you to seek the simplicity of a child when it comes to your faith.  May you and I put aside our desire to be spun around until dizziness clouds our view, and replace it with the clarity of seeing the Creator.  There is so much more offered than just this few-second thrill ride we call life.  Eternity most certainly awaits. So go ahead and eat the deep-fried desserts, but let’s make the priority to live life as a childlike child of God.