The Abundant And

My boys hoard blankets. I know. It’s weird. There is this super-soft blanket that covers our queen size bed. And their little preschool frames just want to hoard all that warmth and goodness. Or they fight over the other one, depending on their mood, because of its color or its texture. As if there isn’t enough room for both them and their dad underneath its warmth (I’m writing this during a cold Ohio winter so yes, I am always craving a blanket because I don’t have the beach.)

But see – this crazy thing. They want to argue “the blanket is too small, we can’t both fight, he’s taking it, he’s wrong.” But the funny thing is – they both fit. Because the warmth of the blanket doesn’t shrink when they both sit underneath it – because two are better than one – it’s better with both. The blanket wasn’t made, either, to be consumed by one small preschooler, but to envelope and wrap snug and safely two preschoolers – and a parent or two.

But when we have the wrong view of the blanket, we miss out on the fullness of its goodness. The abundance of the and. The blanket is big enough for you AND your brother. The blanket can cover you AND your brother AND your daddy. You can BOTH be warm, you can BOTH be covered.

And while this seems silly – man, I weep when I look around and realize we’ve been treating God like my boys treat this blanket. We have such a small view of God we have missed the fullness of His righteousness, His goodness, His majesty, His comfort, His justice, His peace, His grace, His mercy.

I am so tired of sitting at the table of denomination or political affiliation. Because it’s not the table we were meant to be at. These things are meant to be plates – filtered through the One who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. But we’ve moved from setting His table with the portions in each of these spheres that bring Him glory to leaving His table to make our own lesser version of His better way.

What do I mean? We’ve moved tables because we’ve functioned in scarcity and fear. Fear of getting something wrong, looking at what we can see and perceive rather than trusting in how God is working. We’ve called out the parts but not for the sake of the whole. We think we have to take sides, forgetting that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” And yet, “we’ve just always been a Christian.” Nah bro – that’s not Biblical, that’s American. We’re all invited to Jesus’ table, but none of us started there and none of us got there on our own and some of us have confused fake tables for His table.

The table is His and the Kingdom is His and the Power is His. And it takes all earthly parties to surrender agendas, repent of our selfish, broken, sinful ways and recognize no earthly person, party or denomination hold the answer in the full extent. Rather, we must see the good parts in us and around us that only God can redeem and bring into the fullness of His light. We’re parts of the body – we’re not the whole.

The same God who calls life for the unborn child in the womb cries welcome to the immigrant without border. His Kingdom is not defined by earthly lines and powers and thinkings, His Kingdom is made up of every tribe, tongue, and nation [Revelation 5:9-10, Revelation 7:9, Matthew 28:19]. His abundance is not “one or the other” it is “both/and.” My flesh says to pick a side, and I say not right or left but the Highest of Highs – where the unborn are cherished and the immigrant is not denied. It may not fit your earthly nationality thinking, but “my ways are not your ways, neither are my thoughts your thoughts” [Isaiah 55:8-9]. Jesus has the bigger table, and that’s where I sit. You are welcome to enter into His peace and His goodness and His better ways, if you want to talk – you’ll find me there. Take your argument up with my King, He can respond much better than me.