Matthew 18:1-5
(NIV)
"At that time
the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest
in the kingdom of heaven?”
He called a little
child to him, and placed the child among them.
And he said: “Truly
I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you
will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the
lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of
heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me."
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+18%3A1-5&version=NIV
I forget this - so
easily. I am so busy trying to a good job of being an adult, that I
forget that I am not actually supposed to be. And yet, all day long,
I am surrounded by children and their ideas and their ways of looking
at the world.
So I should smarten up
and listen to them.
My nine year old has
asked me three times in the last two weeks.
"Mom, can we just
invite people to go to heaven with us?"
My 'adult instinct'
tells me to launch into a lecture about how it really isn't that
easy, how there are big important adult things to consider such as
sanctification, justification, transformation and probably other
'ations'.
But in these last two
weeks, as my mouth opens to begin the lecture, a smaller, quieter
voice says, "SHUT IT, tell him 'yes'". And so I have, I
have said,
"Yes, nine year
old, it is the exact right thing to do. Invite everyone you love and
everyone who crosses your path to come to heaven with you."
But here's the catch.
His current circle of influence is fairly limited, due to the fact that
he cannot drive, isn't allowed to walk by himself any further than
the park on the corner and he doesn't like spelling. So for him to
sit down and type this and send it into cyberspace would take about
two years. But not me.
My fifteen year old
just finished her grade 10 humanities course, handed in the last
assignment set this morning. We home school, so it is my job to sit
with her and try and decipher the stuff neither of us are very good
at deciphering. I have learned A LOT. The last unit was about
'recovering the voice of the marginalized'.
For me, the tricky
thing about gaining knowledge is that once I have attained it, if I
don't do something with it, I feel less than stellar. So I have
these two pieces of knowledge that have collided in my head these
last couple of days - we need to look at the Kingdom as a child would and we need to be the voice of the marginalized - and unless I do something with these pieces, I am going
to feel less than stellar.
Right now my nine year
old is in a marginal position. He has an important invitation to
extend, but really no voice to extend it. So it is my duty to send
it for him. If I had half the guts he does, I would have just sent
out the invitation myself, a long time ago. But it has taken a child
to wake this one up.
We had been discussing the
return of Jesus, when He comes to collect the believers - and apparently, this is
how a child would approach said situation. He would look at all his
friends and the people he loves and he would ask,
"Hey, this is my
God, He is alive, would you want to come to heaven with me?"
And it is as simple as
that.
John
6:26-29 (NIV)
"Jesus
answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not
because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves
and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food
that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For
on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+6%3A26-29&version=NIV
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