My Dad Could Beat Up Your Dad

“My dad could beat up your dad!” “My dad is soooo rich!”  “My dad is the smartest man I know, probably the smartest man in the whole wide world!”  These are statements that you might hear from kids on an elementary school playground.  In fact, I’m pretty sure they are statements that I made as a child on my elementary school playground.  At a young age most kids idolize their dad, because they are in awe of the things that he can do. He can lift heavy stuff, buy expensive things, and he seems to know the answer to every question they have.  We are in awe, and that awe lasts until we become so accustomed to it that it doesn’t seem special anymore.  After time, these qualities that my dad possessed became “normal” and as I became a know-it-all teenager my awe and wonder over my dad began to wane.

Similarly, I can think back to those first few days and months of my salvation.  I would look at my past, recognize my sin, and realize how amazing God is; because of the forgiveness that He offered me.  Over time that awe and wonder dissipated because it became “normal”.  There were moments early in my faith that I would see a flower, the night sky, or a rushing river; and I would stop in amazement over what God had created.  Over time these things too, became ordinary and I was no longer enamored by God’s creativity. 

Psalm 95:3-5 says this - “For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods.  In is hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to Him.  The sea is His, for He made it, and His hands formed the dry land.  Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for He is our God and we are the people of His pasture, the flock under His care.”  

Here the Psalmist reminds us of the glory and majesty of God; it should spark in us a fresh “awe and wonder” as we contemplate who He is and what He has done for us.  The question that we must ask ourselves is this: “How do we revert back to that child on the playground bragging to his friends about the strength and might of his father?”  How do we recapture our wonder of God the Father and enter into a pure and constant worship of Him?

The world is full of things that distract us from our true purpose.  I’m guilty of sitting in church physically, but mentally checking out, daydreaming of adventures in the mountains, playing with my kids, or spending a romantic evening with my wife.  While these things are not inherently evil, if they are pulling me away from my primary purpose in life, then I should seek to refocus on what really matters.  Here is what I have found, however; most of the things distracting me from my relationship with God can also redirect me back to Him.  

I can revel in the glory of God and His power to create when daydreaming about backpacking through the wilderness.  Worship of God and His providence can be sparked as I wrestle with my kids on the living room floor.  Reminders of the love that God has for me can be found in my relationship with my wife.  As we begin to see God in the things that try to distract us from Him, our sense of awe will return and we will become true and consistent worshippers of Him.