Teddy Bears, Puppies, Friends, and the Word of God

Mike Hosey, An Elder

When you were a child you might have been comforted by a teddy bear or some other stuffed animal.  But as you grew older, you realized that your stuffed animal was not a living thing.  It no longer comforted you effectively because it wasn’t alive. It didn’t interact with you, it couldn’t feel your pain, the only warmth it had was the warmth you gave it from your own body, and any guidance you received from it came from your own immature mind. Because it had never been alive, it wasn’t really dead either. It was just a thing to which you, or your parents, assigned meaning. Perhaps you replaced it with a puppy when you reached a later age.  Unlike the teddy bear, the puppy generated his own warmth, and shared it with you. He recognized you, responded to you, shared and reflected your sorrow or joy, licked your face, and became a loyal and even loving friend.  He was alive. He was greater than any stuffed animal.  But as you grew older still, you realized that your puppy wasn’t alive in the same way that you were. He couldn’t really talk to you.  Your thoughts were far higher than his. He couldn’t guide you. He couldn’t keep you from trouble in any significant way. He couldn’t praise your accomplishments, and he couldn’t point out your flaws -- and he couldn’t help you fix them either. 

Then there came a time when you realized the fullness of human friends. To be sure, those friendships were more problematic than your puppy’s, but they also shared a higher kind of life than your puppy could.  Your closest friends could walk almost anywhere you walked. They could understand your life in ways that your puppy simply would never be able to do. Their experiences were similar to your own, and because of this, they became superior sources of guidance. They were able to praise your accomplishments, and share in the joy of them.  They were able to see your flaws.  The wise ones could point them out and help you fix them. The wisest ones could even anticipate your thoughts and intentions to some degree.  But not even the wisest of the wise could fully know your thoughts, and could therefore never be fundamentally and fully transformative in regards to your flaws, or your life. This is because their own “aliveness” is not that much higher than yours.  Because they are people they cannot always go wherever you go. Your life will have paths they can never share. But God is not this way.  He is the highest friend you can have. Just consider how the writer of Hebrews describes his words (Hebrews 4:11-12).  In that passage he explains to his readers how they can avoid disobedience – by acknowledging the word of God, which is alive and powerful, and sharp enough to discern between your intentions and thoughts.  The prophet Isaiah tells us this word is so alive and powerful that it will always accomplish its intended purpose (Isaiah 55:9-13).  And one of those purposes is to make you new (2 Corinthians 5:17).