Hello, to everyone who is sitting at
their computer reading my blog. To those of you who follow my blog
loyally, this is not one of my regular weekly posts. So you might
want to go use the bathroom or make a sandwich. Currently, it is the
end of my third month on the World Race. Being someone who follows a
powerful and sovereign God, I don’t believe in coincidences. Which
is why I don’t believe that its a coincidence that children have been
a major role in our ministry every month. I truly believe that there
are things that God wanted me to learn from children, and there are
things that I have learned from children. And because of the heart
that God has given me, whenever I learn things I like to share them
with my friends.
Jesus said that whoever doesn’t
receive the kingdom of God like a child will not receive it(Mark
10:15). I’m convinced that as we grow older we tend to forget things
faster then we learn things. Yes, we learn things as well. We learn
things like how the world works, we learn a trade so we can make a
living, we learn that you shouldn’t wear black and brown together,
but above all we learn that life isn’t fair and not every story has a
happy ending like in the stories you’re read as a child. All of
those are well and good, but I don’t want to stray from the purpose
of this blog. I want to share with you what I have forgotten, and
what I’m struggling to remember.
Matthew 18:4 says “Whoever humbles
himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
Think about the position that a child is in. They aren’t that big or
strong, so anything that involves strength or height instantly means
that they need help. They’re not that smart, so they’re used to
either having to ask questions or being corrected by someone else.
But as they grow up they get bigger, stronger and smarter. They then
become more self reliant and proud. Now all of a sudden, they hate
to ask someones help for anything. And God forbid if they’re
corrected for any reason. Now I know when it comes to humility I’m
speaking on very broad terms here, but I know that being a guy I
generally don’t like to ask for help especially when its physical
labor. I might be able to do it, but if I can have help and do it
faster and/or easier. Why not? We need to ask God to break our
pride. We need humility like David in 1 Samuel 24:32-33. To make a
long story short, David is on his way to lay the smack down on Nabal
with all his men. But Nabal’s wife, Abigail, intercepts David and
his men and begs them to spare her husbands life. Now David is the
Lord’s anointed and he’s in front of all his men. But he still
admits his wrong to this woman and thanks her for sparing him the
blood guilt of killing Nabal. Now thats humility. I hate being
rebuked for my sin in private, it would humiliate me to be rebuked in
front of people I had authority over. So when Jesus speaks in
Matthew 18:4 He’s pretty much saying that pride has no place in the
kingdom of heaven.
When Jesus speaks the parable in
Matthew 18:21-35, He’s pretty much saying that if God can forgive us
every time we sin against Him, then we have no excuse why we can’t
forgive our brother or sister when they sin against us. Countless
times I’ve seen the children playing and then one of the kids will
hurt another. They cry, but then within minutes they’ve made up and
are playing again. From my experience children forgive faster then
anyone. The reason being, kids understand more then most that
harboring anger and grudges only hurts you and makes you lonely.
They may not know they know this, they may just say “why waste time
holding a grudge when we could be playing?”…that’s true wisdom.
Jesus was constantly getting
frustrated with His disciples. They always seemed so focused on
themselves and the world. Thus whenever Jesus would give them a
command or teaching, it didn’t make much sense to them. As we get
older we learn to rely on our strength and what we can do and not on
what God can do. For a lot of people, God has let them down so many
times they now have a faith with a crutch. A faith where we meet God
half way. In Romans 11:33-36 Paul talks about how no one can
possible compare to God in riches, wisdom, and righteousness. He
then finishes by stating that God is in all things and God is the
driving force behind all things. So call me reckless but if I serve
an all powerful God who has control over everything. Shouldn’t I be
able to ask Him something and know it’s given to me?(Matthew 21:22)
Or have faith that as long as I’m seeking the kingdom, God won’t let
me stray?(Romans 8:28) Children find it much easier to have faith in
God. And because of how solid their faith is, a child can be the
most dangerous prayer warrior. I’ve seen children praying in the
spirit and children interceding in a way that would bring most
seasoned spiritual leaders to their knees. And when their prayer
doesn’t come to pass, they don’t assume God didn’t hear them they
know that it simply wasn’t His will.
Love is peculiar. Love is following
Christ. Without love there is no salvation, grace, forgiveness,
hope, faith, peace, patience, etc. Jesus was able to sum up hundreds
of years of Jewish law into two commands, both of which encompassing
love(Matthew 22:37-40) But love is a two way street. Not only does
all good come from love, but also with love comes the certainty of
pain. Which explains why so many people are afraid of love. So many
children love so easily and eagerly. But sadly, but inevitably, they
love someone and become vulnerable to them. And they get let down
and in some form or another their love is betryed. After so many
times a lot of people put up walls and guards around their heart to
keep from loving. But going back to my comment about love being a
two way street, when you don’t love you don’t get hurt but you also
lack the things I mentioned earlier. Children understand that even
if someone is only there for a week or so, no love is ever wasted.
And even though pain will come, pain has its seasons while true love
never ends(1 Corinthians 13:8).
This blog is nothing more then
observations. Personally everything I’ve said in this blog, I can
apply to my own life. There are obviously exceptions to the rule.
The obvious one being that all of these observations were on third
world orphans. But these are valuable and applicable lessons to
everyone regardless. So I pray that everyone who reads this will be
challenged. Challenged to look back on your life and try to remember
what you’ve forgotten. Because sometimes the only thing separating
you from a heart felt relationship with Christ isn’t something you
need to learn, it’s something you already know but have forgotten.
