BECOMING LIKE CHILDREN

My wife and I recently attended a surprise 80th birthday party for my wife's aunt.  There were lots of cousins, great cousins, and even 3rd generation cousins present at the party, some of whom had come a good distance to attend; so, it was great to see everybody and catch up on news of their families.  My wife later commented about how one little baby who was just months old was able to pick out her mother's voice even above 40 or more other voices all talking at the same time.  Her little ears would prick up, and her head would turn toward the direction of her momma's voice. 

 As my wife described what she observed that day, I had to think of the relationship with our heavenly Father and how similar it is to that little one and her momma.  There are many voices around us always, some of them are good, and some of them are not so good, but in the midst of so many voices our Father's rings out true and distinct from all others.  We know that we can trust that voice because it is the voice that has comforted us, spoken loving words to us, and guided us in times of uncertainty.  As the psalmist said, "In the multitude of my thoughts within me Thy comforts delight my soul." (Psalms 94:19).  We can distinguish His voice above others because we have learned to trust it and through experience have learned to discern it.  In describing Himself as the good Shepherd, Jesus said, "...the sheep hear His voice: and He calleth His own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.  And when He putteth forth His own sheep, He goeth before them, and the sheep follow Him: for they know His voice.  And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers." (John 10:3-5).

 There is so much we can learn from the example of children.  At one point in Jesus' ministry several mothers wanted to bring their young children to Him so that He would bless them, but His disciples thought that He was too busy to bother with the little ones and forbid the mothers to come forward.  Jesus, however, saw what was happening and said to the disciples, "Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not: for of such is the Kingdom of God." (Mark 10:14). That was not all Jesus said about it, though.  He went on to say, "Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein." (v.15).  Jesus couldn't have made it clearer that we must possess a child-like faith in order to enter the Kingdom of God.

As I think about children and the qualities that I can learn from them, I think first of the utter dependence they have on their parents; especially in the beginning when they are unable to feed themselves, clothe themselves, or clean up their own messes.  Their parents are there to meet their every need, sacrificing their own time and rest to care for their child.  This sacrificial love helps to build the trust bond between parent and child.  As the child grows older, the parents teach them all those things that are necessary for them to become independent so that they can take care of themselves in the world.  This is the way of the world.  To be effective citizens of the world, we must learn to be independent.  The Kingdom of God is just the opposite, however.  To be an effective citizen of the Kingdom of God we must learn to be dependent on our Lord.  We cannot save ourselves.  We can't even change ourselves in any meaningful way without God's help.  By faith in the finished work of Christ, I become transformed into His likeness, however.  I must trust in my Father to feed me with spiritual food by speaking His Word to my soul and bringing it alive to my understanding.  I must trust in my Father to clothe me in His righteousness which is clean and pure, and not trust in my own righteousness, which is like filthy, worn-out garments.  I must trust in God's wisdom to guide me through the difficulties of life and not trust in my own ways.  Above all, I must trust in the great sacrificial love that the Lord has shown me in order that I might be saved and share that love with others.

After having spent our lives learning to be independent, dependence does not come easily.  At first, it seems like a foreign concept.  There are life events that we encounter, though, in which we find we have no control over whatsoever.  It is at such times that we must depend on God and learn to hear His voice, and by depending on Him we find He is faithful and can, indeed, be trusted.  Several times Jesus sent the disciples out on the sea without Him only to encounter some terrible storm that put them all in peril of their lives.  Jesus would always appear then and speak peace to the wind and the waves, and the storm would calm.  God doesn't send trouble into our lives, life itself is well able to do that, but God does use our trials to teach us that we can depend on Him no matter what life slings at us. 

May God grant us all the ability to become like little children, in complete dependence on His loving kindness and His faithfulness.  After all, He has sacrificed Himself for us so that we may experience a rich and abundant life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Jesus Wept

"When He (Jesus) had heard therefore that he (Lazarus) was sick, He abode two days still in the same place where He was." (John 11:6) It appears that, as Christians, if we would be wise, then we must become foolish; if we would have power, then we must become weak; and if we would know true life, then we must experience death. This, of course, runs contrary to all that we think should be true. Concepts such as these are alien to our natural reasoning, and to all of our human inclinations. We always want to excel, we always want to be blessed, and we always want to have all the answers; but God often works the opposite to what we expect. Chapter 11 of St. John tells the story of Lazarus being raised from the dead. Jesus loved Lazarus and his sisters, Mary and Martha, very much. When He heard that His friend was sick, however, Jesus waited two more days before going to him, knowing that Lazarus would die during that period. He told His disciples before they left to go to B...
Read more

THE BODY OF DEATH

In the seventh chapter of Paul’s letter to the Romans, the Apostle alludes to a practice that the Romans of his time would have been familiar with.   It was a form of capital punishment that was extraordinarily cruel and ghastly.   The early Etruscans had used it and, later, so did certain Roman tyrants.   The practice involved binding the condemned individual to the dead corpse of the one that he/she had murdered.   The magistrate would have the criminal tied face-to-face, hand-to-hand, and body-to-body to their murder victim.   This forced them to live out the rest of their miserable existence in that state, enduring the horrible stench and decay of the dead body.   As the corpse rotted, it would become full of disease which would infect and eventually kill the person that was bound to it.     The Greek poet Virgil in The Aeneid , Book 8,  starting on line 485 describes this form of punishment as practiced by the Etruscan king ...
Read more

BE STILL AND KNOW

It is impossible to determine for certain the occasion for which the 46 th Psalm was written.  Some commentators believe that it was written after God delivered King Jehoshaphat from a great army of Moabites and Ammonites.  Others believe that it was written during King Hezekiah’s reign when the Assyrians under King Sennacherib besieged Jerusalem.  This we do know: this Psalm was written to encourage Israel to trust in the LORD Jehovah during difficult and frightening times, and Israel certainly had an abundance of those!    It is said that Psalms 46 gave Martin Luther much comfort and encouragement during the times that he faced fierce opposition to his preaching and ministry.  It is said that it was one of the portions of scripture that inspired the words to his hymn A Mighty Fortress Is Our God .      The psalm opens with these words of comfort and encouragement: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” (...
Read more