[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbV5hn_ET0U&w=560&h=315]
The above video made its way around the Internet yesterday, at least the nerdy parts of the Internet that I regularly traverse. The boy’s reaction to Darth Vader’s confession of paternity is priceless.
I wasn’t alive in 1980 to see Vader’s confession on the big screen. Also, by the time I was able to understand what that scene on Bespin meant, I already knew that Vader was Luke’s father. I never had an experience like the boy above with that epic moment in The Empire Strikes Back.
I also feel like I haven’t had many experiences like that with God.
For those of us who grew up in the church, we rarely have jaw-dropping responses to anything we hear about God or read in the Bible. By the time I was 10, I had heard all of the big Bible stories numerous times.
I knew that Adam and Eve had sinned in the Garden.
I knew that Noah saved the animals (though I didn’t know he got drunk and naked).
I knew that Daniel survived the lions’ den.
I knew that Peter walked on water.
I knew that Jesus died and rose again.
Those stories are compelling and powerfully communicate God’s love, grace, purpose and provision. Unfortunately, though, familiarity breeds contempt, or at least indifference. I would love to hear any of those Bible stories again for the first time just to have a guttural, awe-inspired response like that boy.
God is bigger than his stories, though. While the newness and excitement of the Bible may have been washed away, God isn’t any less exciting. We may know the Bible cover-to-cover, but God is infinite and doesn’t have any covers. It may only take a few years to know every story in the Bible, but we can spend our entire lives pursuing God, growing in our understanding of his character and how he wants to work his will in our lives.
Our God is so big and so great that we should respond like that boy every time we think about him. The creator of the entire universe knows our names and wants to spend time with us. That’s far more shocking and jaw-dropping than anything in Star Wars.
Except for maybe Greedo shooting first.
How do you keep God and his word fresh and exciting in your life?
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