Hello.
A quote my high school youth pastor told me once when I came to him with some questions, “Christianity is probably one of the simplest religions this world has, yet it is the most difficult for humans to grasp.”
Why is this? How can something be so simple, yet people don’t understand it, refuse to believe it, go their whole lives arguing against it, and/or do everything they can to make fun of or bash it?
We as humans are full of questions. As we get older, know all about science and philosophy, we try to explain Christianity through complex research for proof. We study history, we read ancient writings, and we look at the studies and discoveries in Biology. We dig as deep and wide as we can to find answers to these impossible questions.
You are probably saying in your head about now, “OK, Jaimie? What is your point?”
I recently read a book called Heaven is for Real. It is a real story about a 4 year old boy, who during surgery, was taken up to heaven to see Jesus. He never died, but got to spend some time with his Daddy above, for as he said, 3 minutes. He astounded his parents with descriptions of exactly where his parents were in the hospital and what exactly they were doing while he was in surgery, his story of meeting John the Baptist (asking if his dad knew that Jesus had a cousin who baptized him…what 4 year old knows that story?), how he met his great grandfather who had died when his dad was about his age, how the angels sang to him, and even descriptions of heaven that John wrote about in Revelation. He talked about being able to sit on Jesus’ lap when he was scared. Of course any person out of pure curiosity, whether a Christian for their entire life or a skeptic, would ask what Jesus looked like. His father asked him and this is how he responded:
“What did Jesus look like?” I asked.
Abruptly, Colton put down his toys and looked up at me. “Jesus has markers.”
“What?”
“Markers, Daddy…Jesus has markers. And he has brown hair and he has hair on his face.” He said, running his tiny palm around his chin. I guessed that he didn’t yet know the word beard. “And his eyes…oh, Dad, his eyes are so pretty!”
He went on to explain that Jesus was wearing white clothes with a purple sash, and he was the only one in heaven wearing purple. He also described the crown Jesus was wearing, but again he would return to Jesus’ markers. Finally his dad asks him what he meant by markers:
Suddenly, I had it. “Colton, you said Jesus had markers. You mean like markers that you color with?”
Colton nodded. “Yeah, like colors. He had colors on him.”
“Like when you color a page?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, what color are Jesus’ markers?”
“Red, Daddy. Jesus has red markers on him.”
At that moment, my throat nearly closed with tears as I suddenly understood what Colton was trying to say. Quietly, carefully, I said, “Colton, where are Jesus’ markers?”
Without hesitation, he stood to his feet. He held out his right hand, palm up and pointed to the center of it with his left. Then he held out his left palm and pointed with his right hand. Finally, Colton bent over and pointed to the tops of his feet.
“That’s where Jesus’ markers are, Daddy,” he said.
His dad went on to point out that most 4 year olds wouldn’t be able to tell you that. If you can get them to come out of Sunday school with the fact that Jesus loves them and He died on the cross for them to save them, you’ve done a pretty swell job. It is pretty rare for them to know the gruesome details of the crucifixion and to know that Jesus had nails in his hands and feet that left scars. Colton did not know that the “markers” were really scars and where they came from, but he knew where exactly they were.
As I read this, it was impossible to not be completely in awe of the details this little boy recalled of heaven; the stories he told. The entire time it made me even more eager to meet my Jesus and to see heaven for myself. But, it was amazing to hear these things from a child’s point of view. A call-it-as-you-see-it description, simple wording, and innocent outlook were what caught my attention the most throughout the entire story.
It got me thinking about all the science and studying that goes into Christianity and trying to prove it. Maybe it would all be so much simpler if we could all just go at it with child-like awe and wonder. It’s OK to ask questions, but to ask such deep ones when all we need to know is why God did this for us and why Jesus wanted to be the one to save us. I mean for me, sometimes all I need to know is that God loves me more than I can ever imagine and that He would send His Son to die on the cross for someone as insignificant as me; that Jesus loves me SO much that He wanted to die on the cross for a sinner, someone as undeserving as me. We as humans just need to simplify things and then Christianity won’t be so hard to grasp.
