Wrestling with Daddy

My boys ask me all the time to wrestle with them. Really what it consists of is them jumping on my back while I make monster noises and ensuring no one gets hurt (except me!). It's funny - my boys know that I'm much stronger than them but they like for me to pretend anyway.

I got to thinking that is how God must interact with us. He desires to enter into intimate relationship with each of us but He is like a "consuming fire" so He needs to restrain Himself quite a bit to make sure no one gets hurt. What is so wildly amazing about that is that He actually does it. He does it out of love and a deep longing to be intimate with us. He restrains His strength for the sake of having intimate relationships with His children. 

Generally speaking I think the church as a whole thinks they are "too cool" to wrestle with their daddy. They think they have outgrown it. They want God to drop them off down the block so their friends don't see their Father. This must really hurt Him - kind of like when kids come into their teenage years and all of the sudden don't want anything to do with their parents. The parents desperately want to talk to them about what is going on in their lives, their challenges, their fears, etc. but the obstinate teenagers don't think their parents would ever understand. 

Jesus told us to become "like little children" and that His Kingdom belongs to "such as these". I'm pretty sure this is why. God's children like to wrestle with their Daddy.