Though I considered it, I did not bring my dog to church last Sunday. If I had, he may—more likely not—have helped me define the word “gentleness” as we taught the children about the fruit of the Spirit. The Spiritwasat church with me and helped me define that fruit, especially when no theologian seemed up to the task of explaining the fruit of the Spirit to Kindergartners.

“Pretend you got a new puppy or kitten. How would you hold it?” I asked the children. I held my imaginary puppy in my hands and stroked it gently. “I’d be gentle and calm.” I looked out to see the 20 or so Kindergarteners one by one joining in to pet their own puppies and kittens in their arms as we talked about gentleness—restful, quiet because we know Jesus and trust his promises.

Puppies, kittens, fruit—everyday human experiences that help explain the Spirit’s (comforter, helper, counselor) transformative work in us.

I was in a small-group Bible study recently, when a friend commented that her brother thinks the whole Bible is a metaphor. I think there was an audible gasp. Unless her brother was misusing the term to imply that everything in the Bible is untrue, his comment was accurate in a way he did not intend.

The psalms pile on metaphor after metaphor for God: rock, fortress, deliverer, shield, stronghold, refugee, shepherd, light, a very present help, strong tower, and so do the gospels, especially John’s. In the first chapter alone, Jesus is word, light and lamb. In other chapters, Jesus is bread, light, door, shepherd, vine, the way, the truth and the light.

In his book A Complete Handbook of Literary Forms in the Bible, Leland Ryken defines metaphor as “a comparison between two things that asserts that one is the other rather than simply like or as the other. The assertion ‘the Lord is my shepherd’ (Ps. 23:1) is a metaphor. At a literal, grammatical level, a metaphor aways states an untruth: God is not literally a shepherd.” Lee goes on to say that metaphors are an “invitation for us to discover how A is like B.”

In some respects, we are so comfortable with these metaphors that we simply accept them at face value, and they can lose their profound beauty.

I think it’s time we accept Lee’s invitation and rediscover who Jesus is.

He is the bread of life, who held up a piece of bread and told his disciples to “Take, eat; this is my body” (Matthew 26:26). Jesus, the lamb, who held up a cup, and said, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood . . .” (Matthew 26:27)