Have you ever wondered why God would create humanity?

I’ve always wondered why God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – whose life is perfect and blessed and needs no one and no thing (Acts 17:25), would inconvenience His eternal bliss by creating perfect beings who He knew would mess up eventually.

Perhaps the answer to that question may be a little similar to asking why a husband and wife – who have created a happy and clean home – would want to have children. Children who are sure to be naughty, cause heartache, deplete the bank balance, destroy the furniture … Why would you want them?

I guess the answer would be to share, to give – to love.

God’s love always makes space.

Space for another, space for the other. Space for people who will mess up a picture-perfect home, in the hope that they will one day share in the love of the home.

If that is true, then we as a Church need to make space for others. For more people. For messy people.

We need to make physical changes for those who are physically less-abled. We need to make emotional space for those who come with social problems. We need to make audio-space for infants or children with special needs – both create more noise.

We need to make more space in our wallets by being ready to give to those facing economic challenges. We need to be patient, responding (not reacting) to the person who dresses differently, or the person who is still struggling with same-sex attraction.

We need to be patient with the person who is not yet ready to give his all to Jesus, and is just testing the waters for now.

To share, to give – to love.

When making space, people will tend to worry that things will change, that their Church won’t be recognisable as the place which they know and love.

Yes, that is very true: Things will most certainly change when the kids come … However, in a secure home, parents know who they are. They know what’s important, they hold fast their core values, and they know what they want the home to be.

It’s because they are so secure, that they’re willing to walk through the mess, patiently journeying with the children (even occasionally disciplining them). They are willing to accept severe inconveniences to their lives for a while. Jesus looks a lot like that when He deals with sinners, doesn’t He?

I guess how much space we can make depends on how secure we are in Christ. It depends on how sure we are of our identity, in what we know about God and what’s important or isn’t. The more rooted the parents, the more drastic the changes they can tolerate in the interim when the children come – without losing their own identity and values.

Love makes space. A lot of love makes a lot of space. May our Church be able to do the same.