Confession: I hate cleaning up after my kids. It annoys me to no end. It seems like everyday they leave a trail of school work, toys, clothes, and food throughout the house. It seems like they always come home with something new like there’s a never ending mess factory in their backpacks. Most times I stay on them until they finish picking up after themselves but some days I know if I did that we would be up until 12 midnight and I ain’t trying to do that.
A couple days ago I spotted a flash card on the floor and it caught my eye. It was a cartoon picture of David holding a sword standing on the empty helmet of Goliath. It caught my attention because David is holding the sword and smiling non chalantly. I thought about it and I said to myself “That’s not how I picture David. He wouldn’t have a cartoon smile. He wouldn’t be holding that sword non chalantly.
The thing is I think we read the Bible like it’s a cartoon. It starts off pretty early but a lot of the sting is taken out of those stories. We read about Noah and the Ark and all the animals going in two by two. Noah and his family get saved but what about all of those people who drowned. Men, women, and children. The Bible is no joke. We get raised to view it as a fairy tale or a comic book and all of the blood and guts and severed limbs are deleted from it.
That kind of reading is ok for kids but it’s not ok to stay there. Why? Because the Bible is far from a fairy tale. It is filled with war and sex, visions and prophecies. A king who danced out of his clothes and a woman who nailed a man’s head to the ground with a tent peg. It’s filled with more questions than answers and is designed to lead you to a God who embraces you in the midst of them.
