“In this, then, is God like the
child: that he is simply and altogether our friend, our father—our
more than friend, father, and mother—our infinite love-perfect
God.”
There is a story in the Bible where the
disciples of Jesus are arguing about who was the best. “I am the
greatest!” said Peter. “No, I am!” said John. Sound familiar?
Often times we get caught up with the idea of being better than
others. To stop the disciples from arguing, and to teach them an
important lesson, Jesus brought a little child to sit on his lap. It was most likely the son or daughter of Peter, who had just been arguing about who was the better disciple.
Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like
children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles
himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven”
(Matthew 18:3-4). Can you imagine the silence in the room? I'm sure
the disciples were shocked. Isn't greatness measured by a man's
strength? Surely, an adult would be considered greater than a child?
It made no sense. But Jesus knew that the nature of God was far
closer to that of the little child's than it was to the adult man.
For God is whole-hearted in all He does. Think of a baby. A child
cares nothing for what the world says, it simply and whole-heartedly
loves. Jesus was saying that to truly be of the kingdom of heaven, we
must see the childlikeness of God himself and return again to the
simplicity of whole-hearted affection. Put aside the arguing and
fighting, for God is whole-heartedly for you, as your father, your
mother, and your more than friend.
"Therefore, with angels and with archangels, with the spirits of the just made perfect, with the little children of the kingdom, yea, with the Lord himself... we praise and magnify and laud his name in itself, saying Our Father. We do not draw back for that we are unworthy... For it is his childlikeness that makes him our God and Father. The perfection of his relation to us swallows up all our imperfections, all our defects, all our evils; for our childhood is born of his fatherhood." --George MacDonald, “The Child in the Midst,” Unspoken
Sermons, Series One
