✨ Those Who Walk With Jesus — Part 14 ✨ The Playfulness of God

✨ Those Who Walk With Jesus — Part 14 ✨
The Playfulness of God

📝 Their Message (Summary)
About 20 years ago, she confided to a friend her secret hope: to see the Savior in this life. Instead of encouragement, her friend warned her off — describing an experience where a painting of Christ made them feel so unworthy they had to leave the room. That day, she realized: maybe I had misunderstood Jesus.

Unlearning her false perceptions of Christ has been the greatest journey of her life. For too long, she — like so many — had known about Jesus, worshiped Him, but not really known Him.

Quoting John Eldredge’s Beautiful Outlaw, she shares the story of Jesus by the Sea of Galilee after His resurrection (John 21). The disciples, weary after a night of failed fishing, hear a voice from shore: “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” A simple, playful question. They don’t recognize Him until the nets overflow — just as they had at the beginning, years earlier.

Instead of announcing His majesty with blazing glory, the Risen Lord teases His friends with an inside joke, reenacting their first call. And then He grills them breakfast on the beach. It’s playful, human, full of joy. This is the Jesus the Gospels actually reveal: not a somber religious figure, but a living Friend who delights in His people.

🔥 My Reflection
This changes everything.

For years, I pictured a Jesus who was stern, distant, easily disappointed. A Christ whose holiness left little room for humor or play. But here in John 21, we see something entirely different: the Playful God, the Friend who loves to wink, to surprise, to make us laugh even through tears.

No wonder so many struggle to surrender their lives to Him — if our image of Christ is shadowy, two-dimensional, or crushingly serious, who would dare run into His arms? But if we begin to know Him as He really is — brilliant, witty, creative, joyful, playful — then we discover the Friend of our souls.

This truth explains why Jesus often clashed with religious leaders. They were bound to the letter of the law, while He embodied the heart of God — fierce when needed, but also free, irreverent toward man-made rules, and brimming with life. To know this Jesus is to be set free.

🕊️ The Invitation
Ask yourself honestly: Do I know this Jesus — the playful, human, joy-filled Lord of the Gospels? Or do I only know a version filtered through art, tradition, or religion?

Pray the simplest of prayers:

“Jesus, show me who You really are. I ask for the real You.”

And then watch for His playful fingerprints in your life: the unexpected kindness, the hidden wink, the treasure hunt He leads you on, the laugh you didn’t see coming.

To know Him like this is not irreverence — it is salvation.

🔗 Walking with Jesus — A Family’s Story
This post is part of an ongoing series sharing the six-year testimony of a family who walks closer with the Savior than anyone I know. Read their words, feel the Spirit, and let Jesus meet you where you are.

Post #14 — The Playfulness of God
Previous: Post #13 — The Missing Essential: His Personality
Next: Post #15 — (coming soon)

---