The Gospel According to Thomas the Tank Engine

I was talking with my pastor a few months ago about Josh's obsession with Thomas the Tank Engine. He remarked that the gospel according to Thomas was so screwed up. "Sir Topham only values the engines based on how really useful they are."

Herb and I have been joking about this ever since because Pastor Scott was so spot on. Thomas will say things like, "I may be really stinky, but at least I'm really useful." Or "I'm sorry Sir, I was so busy having fun splashing that I forgot I needed to be really useful." Sir Topham Hatt's highest compliment is that the train had been really useful.

The thing is that as I've been laying on the couch down with pneumonia I realize that this isn't just the gospel according to Thomas, it really is also the gospel according to Katie. I have been useless these last weeks, truly. Unable to transport kids, cook dinner, play, make decent conversation, do laundry, clean my house. I have not been really useful. And the truth of the matter is, this makes me feel really worthless. For if I cannot DO anything, what am I worth? If I cannot contribute to this world, then I am nothing.

But this is NOT the gospel according to Jesus. Jesus came to do the work of salvation on my behalf. God has always been the initiator of relationship with His people, the teacher of the truth to our hearts. It is not our own work, our seemingly really useful contributions to the kingdom, but the work Christ did on the cross that brings us into adoption as sons and daughters. Paul says in Galatians, "Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to promise.” (Galatians 3:24-29 NASB) It is not the Law, not our actions that make us heirs to the promise. It is our faith in the One who promised. And it is through God's promise to Abraham to redeem and save His people that we are able to rest knowing that God is the one who wills and works according to what He has set out to do from the beginning of time. It is He who gives mercy freely and it is He who reconciles us to Himself. “For this is the word of promise: 'AT THIS TIME I WILL COME, AND SARAH SHALL HAVE A SON.' And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac; for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God's purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, 'THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER'...So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.” (Romans 9:9-12, 16 NASB)

Isn't that a remarkable truth?!? Even before Jacob and Esau were born, even before they had done good or bad, God set forth His promise! Before any work could be done, God had called them to Himself; He had designed them for relationship and intimacy with Him!
It is such a relief to know that we can be completely useless, we can be doing nothing, and God calls us out of darkness, sets mercy upon us and moves us toward Him. It is not about works and if we adequately serve the kingdom. Instead it is about our faith and if we are willing to cling to His promise and draw near to Him as He calls us.

I'm quite thankful the Island of Sodor is not the kingdom of God. I'm thankful that God isn't watching and weighing each task I do and assigning value to me accordingly. I'm so grateful that Jesus already did all the really useful work, that all I have to do is trust in Him to be given words of approval and affirmation. I'm thankful that under God's mercy I can say, "I might not be really useful, but I'm really forgiven and really loved." Ah to be an engine in the Kingdom of God!