Placing Barbie on the Altar

Bowing before Jesus requires laying everything else down

I was visiting the campus of Northwest Nazarene University, my alma mater in Nampa, Idaho, with my wife and six-year-old daughter. From quite some distance away, I could see the Jesus statue I knew was standing at the center of campus.

We had some time to kill, so I told my daughter to run ahead and find Jesus. We’d keep walking and meet her there in a minute, I told her.

She took off in a full sprint through the freshly watered grass.

We stayed on the paved path.

As we rounded the corner past the library, we could see our daughter, 50 yards ahead, bowing at the feet of Jesus.

She even laid down her Barbie on the altar.

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

— Philippians 2:9–11 (NIV)