I grew up near a beautiful garden. It was a curated landscape painted with great swaths of colorful flowers.
But as a child, I darted right past the pretty flowers to the small grove of trees I loved to climb.
One of the trees had a low branch I used to hoist myself up into the lap of the tree. It was a sturdy tree you could feel safe in—the perfect place to adventure in your imagination.
I recently went back to the garden as an adult and was saddened to see that my beloved trees were roped off with a “do not climb” notice.
I suppose its an attempt to preserve the beauty of the garden for future generations… but somehow the ropes around my childhood tree reminded me of how the disciples tried to rope off Jesus in Mark 10:13-16:
“And they were bringing children to Him so that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, ‘permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.’ And He took them in His arms and began blessing them, laying His hands on them.” (NASB)
Because of Jesus, God is not roped off to us.
Our sins can no longer keep us from holy God because our Savior has paid for them. So we are invited to approach—not just to admire God from a distance, but to reach out and touch Him.
You see, unlike other “gods,” our God isn’t a decorative thing that must be kept out of reach if we want it to last for future generations.
Without any protective efforts from us, our God is eternal and unchanging. He is sturdy. And we can fling our full weight onto Him like a child swinging up into a mighty tree.
But sometimes, we let other people dissuade us from running like a child to grab onto Him. It’s not “appropriate” we think. So we stand back and observe him, aloof.
But God doesn’t want us to admire Him from a distance. He wants us to come close and know Him personally.
So lets be like children in curated gardens—rushing past the pretty for the Mighty.
Lets throw ourselves with childlike faith into the arms of the Savior who hung on a tree for you and for me.
Because if we dare to climb up into His presence—past the ropes of other people’s opinions—we will find our great adventure in all that He is.
Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. Copyright by The Lockman Foundation. www.lockman.org