I want to share a story with you from earlier today. This story involves a little girl. I know nothing of this little girl outside of the fact that she exist and was at North Point today with her family. Yet this little girl demonstrated a lesson Christ taught his disciples. First I'm going to post the passage from the Bible that the basis of this comes from and then I will share the story and discuss it a little.
Matthew 18:1-6:
1At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, "Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"
2And He called a child to Himself and set him before them,
3and said, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
4"Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
5"And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me;
6but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.
The story
Well the story moreless goes pretty simply. This morning during the 12:30 service at church we were winding things down and Tommy was asking people to make life change decisions and accept Jesus as their savior as he does at the end of every service. Well something kinda unique happened this morning and I had this revelation. To set the scene I was working on an island cam and everyone who wasn't working had their heads down and their eyes closed and Tommy was talking about the two groups of people he was going to pray for... Christians rededicating their lives and people coming to faith the first time. Well he had given everyone a chance and he always wants to give a second chance in case they didn't but wish they had and when he did that just infront of me I see this little hand pop up and so I glanced down and there is this little girl who couldn't have been older than maybe six. This was life changing for me. We are talking about money at church right now and something Tommy said the little girl heard. Now, I must admit I am a little iffy with young children making decisions like that because I am concerned with how legitimate it can be and yet I know people who did so at a young age and it was solid and life changing for them so I don't think it is impossible. But God spoke right then. It was like a light bulb clicked on in my head and suddenly coming to God like a little child was different. This little, innocent girl, who knows little of the workings of the adult world and money after hearing a sermon about money made a life choice that will change her whole life.
How this ties together
If we are to come to God like little children then there is a wonderful example to be found in what that little girl did. I think, what this spoke to me anyways, that we have to come to God in a manner where its not like "I know this and this and this about this and this and this" but rather in a manner of "I need YOU to take care of ME because I cannot do it myself." This, I believe, is a beautiful picture of the Kingdom of God. In God's Kingdom children, which are something we seem to take for granted, are important and Jesus wants his followers to follow him like children. I absolutely love this. It is so counter intuitive and so is the Kingdom. In God's Kingdom everything gets turned upside down on its head. In the society that Jesus lived in children were the very bottom of the totem pole and so to show how God's Kingdom flips everything on its head Jesus says that if you don't become like a little child, being the bottom of the totem pole and being last, you will not only miss the Kingdom of God but you will not enter it. I think this is an amazing portrait of what it means to follow God. Its to be like a little boy or girl following mommy or daddy around and relying on them to take care of their every need. Now if only I could get that through my thick skull and really learn to be like a little child.
What do you think of that? Do you have any thoughts? I am working through this so as to apply it to my own life. I want to be like a little child. So innocent and pure. Let us walk together through this journey to the truth. On our trip to find God where He is and to serve Him whole heartedly. Grace and Peace. One love.
No comments:
Post a Comment