Fairy tales do not tell children that dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children that dragons can be killed. ~ G. K. Chesterton
Have you ever thought about how frightening some fairy tales are?
They have scary creatures, often with very adult motives, that quickly put the good characters in danger. Witches who poison beautiful princesses with apples or try to lure little children into an oven. Dragons that pick up sword-wielding knights in one huge claw and carry them off to their lairs. This is the stuff nightmares are made of—yet most children love fairy tales and aren’t afraid to listen to them.
Maybe the reason children aren’t afraid of fairy tales is that they have them all figured out. They don’t have to hear many such stories before they realize something important. No matter how many witches cast spells, no matter how many dragons breathe fire; if it starts with “once upon a time,” it’s going to end with “and they lived happily ever after.”
Fairy tales are predictable. Don’t you wish the lives of all Christians were as predictable?
That each person who accepts Christ as Savior would have an exemplary life of faithfulness, never faltering no matter what scary life-things come at them. Unfortunately, we all know that doesn’t happen. All Christ followers have things in their life that they are not happy about, some that they are even ashamed of.
But we also know something else—that when it’s all over and God writes the final chapter, we will live happily—and eternally—ever after. We have that promise because our salvation is based, not on our faithfulness but on the faithfulness of God.
Our faithfulness isn’t what saves us or keeps us, but it is what we owe to a God so gracious that He loved us in our unlovable and sinful state and sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to give His life for us.
Continuing this year’s theme on the fruits of the Spirit, during the month of September, Mentoring Moments for Christian Women writers will be presenting their thoughts on the seventh fruit: faithfulness.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23
What does it mean to be a faithful follower of Christ?
Join us this month as we explore it.
Vicki Huffman is the author of three Christian books (one novel, two non-fiction) available in print and e-book on amazon.com. A Secret Hope
, Plus Living: Looking for Joy in All the Right Places
, and The Best of Times
. Part of this post is an excerpt from a book she is writing on Unemployment due to be published in October.
About Vicki Huffman
National award-winning journalist Vicki Huffman's latest book is Soon to Come: The Revelation of Jesus Christ. It is a verse by verse exposition of the only purely prophetical book in the New Testament. Her other five books are: The Jesus Moses Knew: How to See Christ in the Old Testament; A Secret Hope (novel); Still Looking: Finding the Peace of God in Job Loss; Plus Living: Looking for Joy in All the Right Places, and The Best of Times. All are available in print and e-book on amazon.com. Vicki is a national award-winning author who has taught the Bible for many years. She was an editor for several Christian publishing houses, including Thomas Nelson and David C. Cook Ministries.
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