Don’t Be An Alien
I was horrified the day our first child bit someone and, needless to say, I reacted in shock and disappointment. His adorably chubby baby face stared up at me as a pout replaced his smile and tears began trickling down his face. Unaware of what he had done wrong, he began crying not because of the action but because he had upset me.
Although this stage is common for most babies, it was yet another reminder that when our children are born they are baby aliens. They do not come equipped with the skills and knowledge to navigate the world. This is learned from the people around them, and primarily from their parents. As we daily exhibited love, respect, compassion, joy and relationship, our children absorbed those morals and perspectives, and began implementing them in their own unique ways, no longer alien to the world around them.
In much the same way that our kids were aliens to the world, we also are aliens to how God thinks, works and loves. Over our lifetime our families, friends, work and passions have shaped who we are. We are used to looking through our lenses of experience and selfish gains, but God sees things very differently.
‘Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!’ – 2 Corinthians 5:14-17 (NLT)
Everything about God breaks our world’s view of possibilities, love, joy, success, relationships, and so much more, but it is hard to get your head around His perspective. By spending time with Him daily, you begin to understand His incredibly unique view on the world, like how He loves more deeply than we can imagine, and how far He will go to rescue those that need Him.
In this new season, take a new journey with God by adding in 2 to 10 minutes of reading the Bible each day.
Here are a few tips to encourage you along the way:
1) If you are worried that you will forget to read your Bible, try splitting your reading time in half and doing it twice a day. Put one Bible by your bed and one near your favorite morning coffee/tea/breakfast spot and read for 1 to 5 minutes in the morning and at night.
2) If you are new to reading the Bible, Start reading in the book of John in the New Testament.
3) If life gets in the way and interrupts this goal, don’t get discouraged or feel that you have somehow failed God. Reading the Bible is not a condition of God’s love. Reading your Bible simply helps you understand just how much He loves you already…just as you are.
4) You don’t have to be a scholar or genius to read the Bible. Just by reading your Bible daily, you should begin to view God’s love, your world, people around you and your goals in life from a new perspective.
Don’t be an alien anymore! Discover how much God loves you, find peace in the middle of our crazy world, and uncover the reasons why God made you so uniquely perfect for the world around you…by spending time with Him each day.
Ruth Thorogood is an author, speaker, entrepreneur, Communications Manager for Lausanne Canada and the Canada Representative for the World Evangelical Alliance. For more info: www.thorogoodadventures.com