Free Time Activity
A hobby is something we enjoy. It refreshes our soul and relieves stress. Our hobby comes up in our conversion frequently. We often set aside our free time to indulge ourselves. Even when busy with more important things, our thoughts will wander in that direction. A good hobby can become a key focus in our life.
So why do I call human beings the Trinity’s passionate hobby? Because I want to highlight a facet of God’s eternal nature that too often gets obscured.
Hearing a Distorted Truth
Saying to a person “God loves you” often has little impact. Because we each filter it through our own experience. If a person grew up in an abusive home, the words “God is your Heavenly Father” would fill them with dread. Unfortunately, these people picture an angry, unstable God, who’s impossible to please.
In my own life, as a young Christian, I’d hear the words, “Maureen, God loves you” and think,
Well of course He does. God loves everyone on earth.
But I’m a disappointment to Him. I’ve failed to obey His will again this week. God may love me, but He doesn’t like me very much.
That lie was embedded down deep; my damaged soul would have given anything on earth to know the One I followed liked and enjoyed me.
Obviously, I had a badly distorted view of God’s unconditional love.
Seeing the Trinity’s Love Clearly
It’s taken a few decades, but the Holy Spirit has worked to heal my heart. One major breakthrough came when I pictured a toddler first learning to walk. The parents are beyond excited when their baby take his first steps. The number of times the toddler falls down? Nobody cares. But the moment he succeeds in walking 3 or 4 steps unaided? Well, the grandparents’ phone starts to ring.
As Christians, we sometimes stumble and fall down. But the Lord doesn’t count how much we fall. Instead, He’s pleased every time we take a new step of faith in His direction.
Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life.
(Isaiah 43:4 RSV)
But what makes us precious to God?
Well, let me share a story I heard early in my Christian walk.
An Unique Hobby
One guy visited a new friend’s home and discovered his hobby was collecting empty beer bottles. He had hundreds from all over the world. Excitedly he’d pick up a rare gem and say, “This bottle cost me $60.” He treasured the empty glass bottle and its unique label.
Yet he often never tasted the beer. Someone in another country enjoyed the brew. This empty bottle is from a Greek beer brand called “Mythos” produced by Olympic Brewery.
This man valued beer bottles which have no intrinsic value. Everyone else throws their empty beer bottles away. But not this fellow. Strange as it was, this hobby gave him great joy.
Valued by the Almighty
In this world, people frequently devalue each other. People discard husbands or wives, even parents and children as excess baggage. “Unfriending” is now a word in our vocabulary. Whole cultures hate other ethnic groups, believing every evil lie.
It’s easy to start feeling worth-less as a human being. But to the Lord, we are precious, valued individuals who He has uniquely created. Each of us has God’s undivided, loving attention. While we don’t get to skip the hard things of this life, our Creator walks beside us through all the dark days and into the sunlight again.
Finally I understood the answer to my questions.
- Why am I worth dying for?
- Why would the Father, Son and Holy Spirit want to spend eternity with me?
- Why am I precious in His eyes?
Simply put, why does the Almighty delight in me enough to call me His own?
Because He chose to.
These images came from Pixabay.com. Today I ‘m sharing two memes with the same theme because I couldn’t choose between them!
Resources:
Here’s my second created meme with the same quote. What can I say? I like them both.
We are the Trinity’s passionate hobby. I know, the monkey can’t believe it either. (M. Puccini)
