Spiritual Disciplines for the Soul: Playfulness
William Gaultiere, © 2005
Tragically, many people when they imagine the face of God they see a frown and not a smile. And when they think about what it means to be a Christian joyful play is the farthest thing from their minds. They don’t know Jesus.
Jesus showed us that playfulness is at the center of his kingdom. He enjoyed playing with children; He blessed babies and he cuddled with kids. He delighted so much in the ways of children that, in sharp contrast to the culture of his time, he held them up as role models, saying to the adults, “Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3-4, NIV). Jesus even identified himself with children, insisting, “Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me” (Luke 9:48b, NIV).
It may seem like an oxymoron to say that play is a spiritual discipline. But the truth is that we can’t grow spiritually unless we play with God and one another. So we need to set aside times to play! In fact, a spirit of play is so important that we’re best off when it permeates all that we say and do, including all of the spiritual disciplines we practice. To be playful is more than playing games – it’s doing something you love to do with someone you love to be with, being spontaneous and creative, having fun and not taking things too seriously, appreciating the humor in things, and delighting in all that God provides for our enjoyment.
Jesus’ child-like playfulness bubbled out from him in many fun ways like turning water to wine so the dancing at the wedding could continue, explaining to people that they’re worth more to the Father than two sparrows, telling people who were worried about what they were going to wear to look at how the wildflowers were dressed, winking at the Greek woman as he told her and his disciples that he couldn’t heal her daughter because he couldn’t give the children’s bread to a “dog” like her and then healing her anyway, sending demons out from a man and into a herd of pigs who then stampeded off a cliff, walking on the water at night right passed his disciples as they rowed in their boat in a storm, telling Peter to pay their taxes by finding a coin in the mouth of the first fish he caught, prodding Zacchaeus to jump down from the tree he was hiding in so they could have dinner together, going to parties with his societies’ outcasts, calling the Pharisees “white washed tombstones,” calling out to God as his “Abba,” walking right through a locked door to show his scared apostles that he indeed had risen from the dead, telling his disciples who had fished all night and caught nothing to simply throw their net to the other side of the boat and giving them a huge haul that broke their nets.
The Bible shows us that in Jesus’ Kingdom of the Heaven’s music “plays,” lambs and calves skip along, birds sing, children and the child-like dance, new wine flows, and people talk and laugh at the banquet table. Indeed, “The joy of the Lord is [our] strength” (Nehemiah 8:10b, NIV) so let’s play in the Lord!
