Four little kids in a museum filled with priceless objects. A recipe for disaster, right? If they were yours, you’d want to keep an eye on those little ones for sure—and we did.
Imagine a porcelain vase standing about two-and-half feet tall. It was a magnificent shade of blue covered with gilded gold. The thing had a diameter of about two feet, so it was plenty big.
Mythological characters in raised relief walked the entire circumference of the vase, their fantastic appearance engaging the laser focus of Caleb. Caleb is five and fearless and faith-filled (a tribute to his mom and dad). He’s also curious.
His large brown eyes drank in the images of those creatures as the museum docent pointed to the vase’s rim and explained, “That’s the god of creation….and there’s the god of water…This one here is the god of….” Abruptly Caleb turned, looked the lady right in the eye and said with equal measures of politeness and boldness, “Excuse me.”
The docent paused. Caleb continued with an innocent smile on his face proclaiming, “There’s only one God.”
To say the lady was caught off guard would be an understatement. “Well, yes,” she stammered. Regaining her groove, she said pleasantly, “You’ll read more about these in school.” And that’s pretty much how it ended.
Think of it. We live in a world of museums and media and classrooms and conversations filled with false information about God. Like the exchange with the museum lady, not all of it is deliberately hostile. Yet it’s there. Everywhere.
But what if we Christ followers were all a bit more courageous, like Caleb? What if—instead of angry shouts, boycotts, and protests—we gently but firmly asserted the truth about God when culture says otherwise? Consistently. What if we tried Caleb’s way: put a smile on your face and say with your life as well as your mouth, “Excuse me—there’s only one God.”
Caleb is five and fearless and faith-filled. I hope to grow up to be like him.