Perspective: Like Cute, Fluffy Animals

I share these thoughts, hoping they are of help to someone else.

Like Cute, Fluffy Animals

Scripture:

Don’t be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds so that you can figure out what God’s will is - what is good and pleasing and mature.

Romans 12:2 (CEB)

I believe in the Kingdom Come
Then all the colours will bleed into one
Bleed into one
But yes, I'm still running

You broke the bonds
And You loosed the chains
Carried the cross of my shame
Oh my shame, You know I believe it

From "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" by U2

A few days ago, while I was at work, my mother sent me an email titled "Animal Therapy." It was the type of email that people often like to forward to each other - the kind full of assorted cute animal pictures. One of these pictures, the one shown below, particularly caught my eye.


There are two things worth noting about this picture. First of all, it is unbearably adorable! Second, the two kinds of animals that are depicted in such a friendly state in this picture are normally in a predator-prey relationship. Whether you saw a cat catch a bird in your own backyard or watched Sylvester's futile attempts to eat Tweetie on Looney Tunes, you probably learned at a young age that cats hunt and kill birds. According to conventional wisdom, the chick should be fleeing from the kitten and not sitting atop the kitten's head.

When I saw this picture, a particular saying came to mind: "The lion shall lie down with the lamb." This saying originated from a prophecy that came through the ancient Jewish prophet Isaiah. As he described what life will be like under the reign of the Messiah, the one who would bring about an age of peace, he said:

The wolf will live with the lamb,
and the leopard will lie down
with the young goat;
the calf and the young lion
will feed together,
and a little child will lead them.
The cow and the bear will graze.
Their young will lie down together,
and a lion will eat straw like an ox.
A nursing child
will play over the snake’s hole;
toddlers will reach
right over the serpent’s den.¹

In Isaiah's prophecy, a number of animal pairings that would normally constitute predator-prey relationships are depicted living and grazing and resting together. These images are not dissimilar from the picture of the kitten and the chick.

So how is it that the two animals in the picture above are able to coexist so harmoniously? I am not an expert in animal behavior, but perhaps the the kitten and the chick are simply too young to know the way that things are "supposed to be."

On at least two occasions, Jesus spoke about children when describing the Kingdom of God. One day, Jesus called a child to come to Him and then said, "I assure you that if you don’t turn your lives around and become like this little child, you will definitely not enter the Kingdom of Heaven."² On another occasion, people brought their children to Jesus so that He would bless them. When the Disciples tried to stop them, Jesus said, "Allow the children to come to Me. Don’t forbid them, because the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to people like these children."³

This summer, I was fortunate enough to see Terrence Malick's film The Tree of Life. At one point in the film, the mother says, "There are two ways through life: the way of nature and the way of grace. You have to choose which one you'll follow."⁴ The "way of nature," as I understand it, is the idea of the "survival of the fittest." According to Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection, an animal with more favorable qualities will survive to propagate it's species while an animal with less favorable qualities will become extinct. Applied to a social setting, the more ruthless a person is, the more likely he or she will succeed. On the other hand, the kind, the honest, the humble, and the meek are left trampled in the person's path.

The "way of grace," as I see it, is the opposite of the way of nature. People who live by the way of grace don't live in conflict or in competition with each other. Instead they love each other, help each other, and seek to build each other up. This is the way that Jesus taught us to live.

The young do not understand the way of nature: they live by the way of grace. This can be seen in the two young animals in the picture who do not yet realize that they are natural enemies. This truth can also be seen in small children who have no apprehensions about playing with children of different races or of different social classes. At some point, though, all creatures are robbed of their innocence by the world around them. All creatures are hurt by others and exposed to the evils of this fallen world. All of creation becomes broken by the way of nature.

This fall from grace is illustrated well in the second Jurassic Park film. Early in the film, a man is approached by a tiny dinosaur, classified as a compsognathus or "compy" for short. Wondering why the dinosaur is not afraid of him, he asks a paleontologist who tells him that the dinosaur has never seen humans and thus has no reason to be afraid. The man then tasers the tiny dinosaur and says, "Now it does." Later in the film, the same man is overtaken and devoured by a herd of compies.

One night, a pious man named Nicodemus meets with Jesus. Jesus tells him, "I assure you, unless someone is born anew, it’s not possible to see God’s kingdom." In other versions of the Bible, the words "born anew" are translated "born again" or "born from above." Nicodemus is perplexed by Jesus' words, wondering how it is possible to re-enter the womb and be born a second time. Jesus goes on to say the famous words: "God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him won’t perish but will have eternal life. God didn’t send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him."⁵

Jesus Christ came into the world to usher in the Kingdom of God. To put things into Terrence Malick's terms, Christ also came into the world to heal the wounds inflicted by the way of nature and to show us the way of grace. Being "born again" means being transformed by God's grace so that we might become like little children again, fit for the Kingdom of God.

The Kingdom of God has yet to be fully realized here on earth, but it can be seen in those who follow Christ by choosing grace over conflict, love over selfish ambition. I believe that someday Christ will return to reign on earth, and there will be peace and harmony. What was once a predator will rest with what was once its prey. Former business tycoons will dine with people who were formerly homeless. People will no longer look at each other and see the things that divide them but will instead see brothers and sisters.



Notes:
1 - Isaiah 11:6-8 (CEB)
2 - Matthew 18:2-5 (CEB)
3 - Matthew 19:13-15 (CEB)
4 - Click here to see the trailer for The Tree of Life.
5 - John 3:1-4,16-17 (CEB)

The pictures featured in this perspective were forwarded to me in an email, so I do not know whom to give credit.


If you have any feedback, thoughts, stories, or even arguments to contribute, please leave comments.