Practicing Parables

Me and Jesus… We love stories.

I like them at bedtime with snuggles. Or to invite people into a part of my life.

Jesus drove His disciples CRAZY with his simply complex, bringing-heaven-to-earth kinda stories called parables.

Jesus came to save and to redeem. He taught through stories because we just can’t handle the fullness of what He has to offer with all this flesh in the way. It’s hard to even wrap my mind around the verbage “to save and to redeem”, much less His Son's, mine and your place sitting right next to the King of Kings.

Parables are like fun-size candy bars – just a taste of what the Kingdom of heaven is like. (which really only leaving you wanting the King-sized version anyway- or is that just me?)

It’s so good we can’t get it all at once while we’re here. He gave us stories to read and reread, to glean, encounter and be moved a little more by His Spirit each time.

The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field… Mt 13:44

The Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed… Mt 13:31-32

The Kingdom of heaven is like yeast… Mt 13:33

The Kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard… Mt 20:1-16

The Kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son… Mt 22:1-14

He came with a love bigger than every combination of every character of every language. Metaphors, similes… shoot, onomatopoeias can’t even capture it all.

Jesus’ parables are the most current event and most relevant Truth to our lives today. And praise the Lord… because the Yahoo headlines that pop up on my computer screen every morning make me cringe.

I’ve gotten a little worn down from looking at everything on earth-level. I’m painfully aware of what the kingdom of earth is like… and I’m tired of claiming residency here. My skin lives here and is just as sin-filled as everyone else’s – sometimes it feels like I have extra sin in my skin.  And then there’s all the innocent little-skinned people who are suffering.

Whether my postal code is in South Africa or America, and whether the sin manifests in our skin as sickness and starvation or greed and gluttony, this isn’t home.

“But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 3:20)

So I asked Him yesterday to speak to me in my language. Stories.

And if you know Him, you know He can't resist those kind of prayers. Watch...

Abba, what is the Kingdom of heaven like? 

The Kingdom of heaven is like the way a mother looks at her child.

The Kingdom of heaven is like a young woman who gives her money and time to come wash dishes and peel potatoes for the least of these.

The Kingdom of heaven is like a safe place to take a nap and to be napped on.

The Kingdom of heaven is like bringing water to your family one bucket at a time.

The Kingdom of heaven is like a seat for two.

The Kingdom of heaven is like a young mother and pastor's wife who thinks it's worth checking on every new child, scratch and scrape.

The Kingdom of heaven is like the perfect shape of this perfect face.

The Kingdom of heaven is like the next generation of fathers joining in silly songs and hand games with the girls.

The Kingdom of heaven is like meeting on the sand pile despite culture, language and skin color.

The Kingdom of heaven is like an opportunity to know and love this little boy who just showed up at our church - no one can understand his name and his mom leaves him alone, locked out of his house all day long while she works.

The Kingdom of heaven sounds like this.

We already have the promise that the Kingdom of heaven has overcome the kingdom of earth. We are walking through the skin and sin part now, but we can choose what we look at. Everything changed for me yesterday when I chose to look for the Kingdom of heaven. I couldn't stop finding it.

Ask your Abba... the only One who really gets what Home is like... what the Kingdom of heaven is like in your day today. He speaks your language and loves talking to you.