His name is TriBot and he is a cool little remote controlled gizmo that is really fun to play with. But my son is afraid of him. Why? I am not sure. But I have been trying to think of what I can do about it. I have tried a gentle introduction, I have tried surprising him (not a good idea!), I have tried many other things all to no avail! I have started to think of ways that I can constructively use his fear of the "Wo-bot" but I am not convinced that this is the best thing to do. I used the fear of the robot to get him to eat his dinner last night, and I posted the little red monster at the door to my office to get some peace while working. But while somewhat humorous, I don't think that this is something I will continue. But, posting my little sentry at the door did get me thinking of how our fears stunt our relationship with God and keep us from truly enjoying him! ("Way to go preacher-boy!" as my wife would say)
Realistically, it is only my son's fear of the robot that keeps him away. He is physically strong enough to move it if he wanted. Or, he could just walk right on by. Or, he could get the remote and make the little bugger drive itself out into the road and get squished by oncoming traffic! But he doesn't. In fact, when he sees it he runs. When you mention it, he tenses up and gets worried. He says this cute little "No" and shakes his head with huge eyes if you suggest that he have some sort of interaction with it! So sad, because he loves gadgets and I know he would have a blast if he would just get past the fear of it!
Sounds like many of us and the idea of church, or relationship with God.
I think most of us get what I am driving at here: God is waiting for us to respond to his love. He longs for it! But many of us are kept from truly experiencing it because of some kind of fear. Perhaps its based on an experience that we had at a church or with some "Christian" that has left us with scars. Perhaps it is based upon a (hopefully) false assumption. Perhaps it is deep seated and we cannot explain it, but there is something that is keeping us from wanting to enter into the room where people even mention God or Jesus.
When I put little TriBot at the door, my son missed out on relationship time with his dad. When we are stopped by our fears we miss out on an even greater opportunity. We miss out on the relationship which each of us was created for. We miss out on spending time with our Father, God. I don't know what your relationship with your dad was like growing up, but mine sucked. But let me tell you, relationship with Father God surpasses anything else you could possibly imagine. So don't let fears stop you. Jesus took care of anything and everything that could possible stand in our way or block us from getting to know him. So lets trash our fears, kick them aside and run to God! Lets experience what we were created for!
Amen! Well said. :-)
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