Innocence Gained

*Gently brushes dust off of blog*

One concept that I've been mulling over lately is innocence. 
It's a distinct concept. It's also something that's largely missing in our society. 
Innocence is one of those things that causes me to smile or even laugh when I catch a rare glimpse of it. I smile, not because it's some ridiculous concept, but because it is so beautiful and refreshing and contagious. There's something inherently beautiful in something that's innocent. 
Some examples:

• Finding humor in something because it's joyful, not because it has some derogatory or hidden meaning
• Admiring something because it's beautiful, not with some twisted, perverted desire 
• Taking a chance on someone
• Allowing yourself to toss off the cold hard shell that you've built up around yourself and putting yourself out there
• Enjoying true, wholesome, honest things

Now, I don't want to synonymize the word innocence with naïveté- although, the words are similar. The main difference between the two that I would argue is that someone can be repeatedly naïve, but innocence-once lost- is gone forever. I suppose an accurate synonym would be purity. 
Now you might ask (if you've made it through my terrible writing skills), "If the title of this post is 'Innocence Gained', doesn't that contradict what you just defined innocence as?" To which I would respond, "Yeah, sort of."

If you're talking about experienced innocence, I would say that type of innocence can't be regained. There are things that I have viewed, experienced, and said that make it impossible for me to have complete innocence in certain areas of my life. And to anybody reading this, I would strongly encourage you to keep that type of innocence for as long as you possibly can. Personally, it's something that I wish I could reclaim, but experienced innocence, like time, cannot be regained. 

However, if you're talking about eternal innocence, that can be gained. It isn't something that can be regained, because it can't be lost, and no one is born with it. (This is where the post is going to take a "cheesy and predictable" turn, but I like cheese- so here goes.)
Even the most innocent looking five-year-old that can see beauty and fascination in something like a leaf or a cloud is not innocent when it comes to their sin nature. Romans 3:23 says, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." There's good news though. Romans 5:8 says, "But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Jesus Christ took our guilt and sin upon himself, and if we trust in Him as our substitute- we're innocent in the eyes of God. 
So, the hope of this is, even if we're lost our experiential innocence we can still be declared eternally innocent.

I guess what I'm really trying to say is summed up by Philippians 2:15- "That you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world."