If you have read through The Bible, or parts of it, you have probably noted many apparent paradoxes. How can this one section be true based off what was said just a few books ago? One I have grown to love is this: in 1 Corinthians 13 Paul writes that when he became a man, he put his childish ways behind him, and yet just a few books earlier (in fact in several gospels) Jesus tells us that we have to become like children. Not that you have the option, no, you must become like this child.
What?
I think I probably would have been just as perplexed as the disciples were. What does it look to receive the Kingdom of God like a little child?
Answer:
This morning at church I saw someone receive the Kingdom of God like a little child. It helped that she is a little child, but it was so beautiful. Here was this little one dancing with no inhibitions, with reckless abandon. That’s how I want to dance with my life.
Leaving childish ways behind and becoming like a child is not mutually exclusive. You know those people who you come across in life and you think: they still have this child-like spirit in them! Those individuals have been some of those most impressive, fun, and joyful people I have met. But, what happens along the way to some? Why do some people become so skeptical, so burn out, so, well, not fun? We have met those; I have been that person sometimes even in my short life. It shouldn’t be like that.
Write a good story with your life. Question life, but also receive. Question love, but also embrace. Question integrity, but also trust. And write a good story.
More to come later on how we’re writing a good story in Nicaragua. But first, listen in my next blog to how we wrote a good story in Honduras—I thought it was worthwhile to take a few steps back.
