Tennis Balls, Cats and God
If I held up a tennis ball in a
group of 20 people and asked them to tell me what it represented to them, I
might very well get 20 different answers ranging from ‘athletics’, ‘exercise’, ‘fun
with friends’, and ‘competition’ to ‘fetch with a dog’ or ‘what my grandma has
on the feet of her walker’. Each person would see the tennis ball differently,
depending upon the circumstances in which they have encountered it in the past.
Have you
ever met someone so obsessed by something that they cannot see it in any other
way than their own? Maybe a sports fanatic that cannot stand to even be in the
same room with someone who likes an opposing team. Or maybe a relative that
collects hats and talks about them incessantly, showing you their odd collection
every chance they get.
My son used
to be that way about cats. It seemed every conversation turned to cats, sooner
or later. He didn’t care what other people thought of his obsession, either. He
told others of his (pretend, just so we’re clear) plan of taking of the world
with a robot army of cats, someday. He had elaborate plans for his house full
of cats, the people he would hire to take care of them, the cat store he would
own, and so on and so on. He had an answer for everything – and it was always
CATS. In high school, some of the upper classmen took to calling him ‘Catboy’.
Much to their chagrin, he reveled in it.
If you were
to ask my son to describe cats, to this day he would likely respond, “They are
soft and furry.” Even though many might agree with his statement, there are
those who might respond with words such as ‘scary’, ‘dirty’, ‘disgusting’, ‘flee-infested’
– well, you get the picture. We all have different opinions of them.
When Ernie
and I first got married, he viewed cats as something he would tolerate on my
behalf, because he loved me. I don’t think he would have ever considered owning
one, let alone paying money for one. After the first kitten we had crawled up in
his lap, purred, and wound up preferring him over me, it was all over. His
affection for felines has grown to the point where he thinks pictures of them
are adorable, and he can’t wait until we can have one again. (We are currently
renting and not allowed to have any pets.) My sister-in-law still prefers dogs
over cats and cannot understand why on earth her brother wants another one.
Right about
now, you’re probably wondering what these random stories have to do with God.
My response is “More than you might think, actually.”
Let’s
revisit the tennis ball. The athlete is likely to see the tennis ball as a
sport or something relating to competition. The health-conscious person is
likely to see it as a way to keep fit. Someone who likes to socialize will see
it as a way to have fun with friends. Well, I think you get the picture. As
much as an inanimate object can reveal itself to a person, the tennis ball
reveals itself to an individual based upon the person’s propensity towards the
ball. Just think of a time you were doing something with someone who did not
share your point of view on the matter. The athlete can tell the socialite
1,000 times to ‘keep your eye on the ball’, but the socialite just wants to
have fun. It won’t matter to the socialite that the score is 30-3 (no, that’s
not a real score), the athlete will be excited to win and the socialite will be
glad to have spent time with a friend.
2 Samuel 22:26-28
says, “To the faithful you show yourself faithful; to those with integrity you
show integrity. To the pure you show yourself pure, but to the wicked you
show yourself hostile. You rescue the humble, but your
eyes watch the proud and humiliate them,” (NLT). David recognized that God
revealed himself to people based upon their own character traits or their
circumstance. If I am in need of being rescued and look to God help, in time He
will likely reveal himself to me as Rescuer.
Notice that
David also recognized God has having many different traits. If you are familiar
with the life of David, I’m confident you can think of a time and circumstance
in which David saw God as faithful, honest, pure and hostile. David had
previously experienced each of these characteristics of God.
What’s the
take-away from this scripture? If you truly want to know God better, you must
seek him in all circumstances.
By seeking God during different
circumstances, we can learn about the different characteristics of God. If I
have only seen a tennis ball used as a dog toy, I will not understand that it
can help me stay physically fit. In
the simple mind of a dog, the tennis ball may always represent something to
play with. However, an eighty-year-old can likely appreciate the tennis ball in
a myriad of ways, since they have experienced and witness the ball being used
in many different ways.
If you only
see negative characteristics of God, perhaps you are not seeking to follow him.
Our views of God’s character are reactions to situations in our daily lives. If
we are trying to live a life of integrity, we will see God’s integrity. If we
go against what we know to be God’s desire, then we will feel judged and
rightly look at God as judging. So,
in order to see the good characteristics of God, we must strive to fulfill his
righteous commands, thus bringing to light those positive traits.
Understanding how this works may
help you understand why an atheist cannot see a loving and merciful God.
However, if we who know God and become His hands and feet, we can show the loving
and merciful God to the unbeliever. Mere talk will get you nowhere, mind you.
Just as you learned to know God through your experiences, others will learn to
know God through our actions. Words must be continually backed up by actions.
At 3 years old, my dog knew that my
tennis shoes and the word, “walk” meant she was going for a walk. If I merely
said, “Walk” to her, she would tilt her head to one side and look expectantly
at me. However, she did not know the word “walk” when she was born. She learned
its meaning by me repeating it just before taking her for a walk. Similarly,
she learned to associate my tennis shoes with “walk”, since I consistently said
“walk” while putting on the tennis shoes just before taking her for said walk.
We must verbally recognize the
positive characteristics of God to others as he works in our lives – this is
what we refer to as giving our testimony. It is not enough for us to internally
recognize the traits. It is imperative that we audibly affirm the traits as belonging to
God. Over time, others will begin to recognize the positive traits of God by
seeing the fruits of God’s work in our lives and hearing us attach those works
to God. Eventually, we and others will automatically associate certain positive
words to God.
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