Wednesday,
September 27, 2023
There is an enormous
difference between childish and childlike.
Childishness is unthinking, except for pleasing self and having a dry
diaper. Childlike is to capture the
wonder and joy of good things, and to be appalled at the monstrous evil it encounters,
choosing to enter the good, and destroy the nightmare of darkness.
C.E. Montague
wrote the novel "Rough Justice."
The hero, Bron, is age four when he first visits church. That day was the first he'd ever heard of the
crucifixion of Jesus. He was so
horror-struck that he thought the whole church must be in tears. But when the service ended, instead of the
hushed awe he expected, a deafening clatter of small talk broke out. Bron was astonished to find Christian people
laughing and talking as if no tragedy had taken place.
It may be
that having one’s eyes opened to the truth is necessary for children to learn
the “ways of the world”. But it saddens
one to think of the disappearing spark of innocence one can easily see in the
face of a child’s trusting, joyful, face. This is what God must have seen that
day in the Garden, when Adam and Eve hid themselves after they first sinned. Innocent eyes that once walked in complete
trust with their Maker, were now clouded by guilt, shame and suspicion!
Perhaps it
was one of the disciples’ children that Jesus called to himself, and sat the
little one upon his knee. He told the
disciples the answer to their question about who was greatest in God’s Kingdom,
was what they saw, an innocent trust of being held in complete safety, unafraid,
expectantly waiting for the next good moment.
The little one, unaware of the gravity of the question, or the depth of
Jesus’ answer, simply wondered in that moment; am I a part of that
kingdom? Jesus was telling his
disciples to lose the corporate mindset of climbing the ladder of achievement,
and become like that child, only concerned to being affirmed as belonging,
wondering, enjoying, and seeking the embrace of a Father’s love.
I’m certain
the disciples came away from that morning’s lesson examining every word their
Master had said, pondering what they were still missing, and if it was ever
going to get easier following Jesus. And
isn’t that the way it is with children trying to get some understanding with
their parents? Yet parents sometimes
forget what it’s like to be that child; we forget how much that embrace
means. In our own sinful nature we
cannot see through innocent eyes; our vision is blurred by guilt and
shame. It is impossible to return to
Eden once the door has been flung-open, and that is Jesus’ whole point. He was there to be the pathway back into the
Father’s embrace, because there was no other way. His whole mission was to transcend the
impossibility of return to innocence by destroying evil’s monstrous claim on
our souls. That would be what happened
at Calvary’s cross when Jesus uttered those three blood-stained words: It is finished!
For You Today
When a door
has been opened, nothing is truly settled.
For there to be fulfillment of what was intended on the other side of
that door, one must, of his own choosing, walk through the door. God has granted us free-will, a choice to
walk back into His embrace, or to remain in our success mode, climbing the ladder
to nowhere but frustration and ulcers…and eventually, eternal separation from
Him.
So…what do
YOU choose?
There are about 2,600 devotional
posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road library.
Title Image(s) courtesy of Pixabay.com
Images without citation are in public domain. Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT©
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