Unless you become like little children...
Check out this interaction with Jesus, His disciples, and some kids Matthew 18:2-4:
He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." (NIV)
I think I know what He means... You see, Cornerstone Church is headquartered in an office/warehouse complex. We share our building and parking with businesses located in our complex. There is a tenant across the parking lot from us who seems to think that there is assigned parking spots for certain tenants. If somebody parks in "his spot," he simply pulls his expensive foreign luxury car so close to their driver's side door that it is almost impossible to get in. I know this because it happened once to me, and I watch it happen to the other tenants from my office window. This seems to me to be about the most childish act I could witness....so this guy must be just like Jesus!
Wrong! There is a difference between being childlike and childish. My "friendly" neighbor is pretty childish, but not very child-like. Why? Well, there is that humility piece! You see, Jesus wants us to humble ourselves....to put Him and others before ourselves. When we do that, we have child-like faith.
Jesus, help me not to be so childish today, but to have the humility of a child and your heart of love and service today....
2 comments:
I guess you'd think that a person working in a "professional" building would act a little differently. The intentional nature of a person's actions makes it even more reprehensible.
The other thing that's always intrigued me about Jesus' "be like children" thing is the dichotomy between innocence and guilt which is a part of every child. They are sinners in need of grace (take my word for it on that one) and yet have a certain innocence regarding the world that is both charming and frightening. How do we recapture that?
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