Several years ago, I interviewed my then 3 year-old son. We sat on my bed as he talked about the best parts of being three. It’s driving me crazy that I can’t find the journal where I thought I wrote down his answers. But I can remember the pattern of them. Almost every single thing he enjoyed doing ended with this phrase: WIF YOU. Examples I might find on that sadly missing page:
“Reading wif you.”
“Snuggling wif you.”
“Playing wif you.”
This is very precious to me now, because this son has since swayed to my husband’s side (literally) and wants to do everything “wif HIM.” It’s bittersweet; but God’s design is for a young boy to copy his dad and want to become like him. Either way, it amazes me how deeply a child needs to connect with their parents and be close to them. This is where their sense of love and peace comes from.
The other day, I heard these verses, in which Jesus was speaking to His disciples: “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.” (John 14:1-3 NLT)
In the past, I’d always heard that as “You can have peace because I’m coming back. Heaven is waiting for you.” But it hit me: Jesus wants to be WIF ME! He wants to be WIF YOU! Like a 3 year-old wants their Mommy or their Daddy every second of every day, no matter if that parent is on the couch, in the bathroom, or on the phone. Connection is what matters most. Relationship.
When I’m getting a little foggy on the details, I can read the account of Jesus’ crucifixion. THAT is how badly our Daddy wants to be with us. Enough to send His own Son away to earth to become the sacrifice for our sin. And I can read the account of Jesus sticking around on earth after He was raised from the dead, how He made breakfast over a campfire on the beach for His closest friends. He wasn’t looking for the quickest way out of here. He wants to be with us.
If this doesn’t hit home, maybe it’s because my heart is a little on the cold side. Maybe I don’t really want to be with Him like He wants to be with me. My love can never match His in purity. But it can grow.
“I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.” (verse 3) I am completely blown away that God, the Creator of the whole Universe, feels that way about me. Are you? Jesus is Emmanuel, God With Us. The same child who said he wanted to do everything “wif me” was recently baptized. When Pastor Justin first asked him why he wanted to follow Jesus, he answered, “Because God is with you wherever you go.” Connection. Relationship.
The Holy Spirit is IN us, and we are IN CHRIST. I am crying out to God for a new understanding of His love, a new sense of His presence. I love that we don’t have to wait until heaven to be with Him in spirit. But there is a longing in each of us, a hunger to be with Him in body. When will the Bridegroom return? When will we become one forever? When will we always be together, face to face? “Come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20) May our hearts stay hungry for His presence, 3-year-old-style. After all, Jesus said in Matthew 19:14, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.”
