Is it important to come to God like
a child?
“…Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you
will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3; cf. Mark 10:15; Luke 18:17)
So, yes, it is not only
important but also absolutely necessary to come to God like a child in order to
have eternal life. This means we need to have a faith that is simple and
uncomplicated. It is an uncluttered faith. It means that we don’t have it all
figured out but we know we can take God at His word and trust His promise to
adopt us into His family. But the lesson doesn’t end there. Jesus went on to
say:
“Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom
of heaven” (v. 4).
It seems that Jesus is at least
implying how we should live in a complicated world. We not only get to God
through a childlike faith, but we also continue throughout our lives following
Him like a child. Daily life for a child is humble following. We need our
Father to get us through another day. Pride strips trust. When we are following
God like a child we are living in simple dependency on God’s Spirit. We are
daily depending on Him. We are repeatedly asking God questions like, “What are
you doing?” And we are telling Him that we want to follow Him like a child
follows their parents in a busy, crowded mall on Black Friday. We are never losing sight of our heavenly Father. We
are not wandering off because something shiny and noisy has caught our
attention.
Let’s not lose that daily
childlike trust in God. My desire is that we don’t become so “mature” in the
sense that the awe and wonder of following God like a simple child wears off.
Grace & Peace,
Scott
We had a good discussion Sunday night (February 27). I think we were able to answer all the questions everybody has at this point. We will have more family discussions and will need to fine-tune the building. However, I believe we will be able to vote on this Sunday morning with confidence. Remember, we are voting to build at a cost not to exceed $1.5 million, we would borrow up to $500,000, the building will be built by Solsbee Construction Company, and we would borrow the money from First Piedmont Bank in Boiling Springs.
Now can be accomplished in this regard without faith. So, let me encourage you in your faith. Faith is the one godly character trait that is absolutely essential as we move to building. I can't improve on the definition of faith we find in Hebrews:
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1).
Two words that jump off the page are "assurance" and "conviction." Both of these words are descriptive of faith and therefore give us a pretty clear definition. First, faith is assurance. This means that when we exercise our faith we are sure. We are issuing a "guarantee" or "title deed" that we believe what we hope for is really going to happen. Paul wrote something similar to the Romans,
...Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience (Romans 8:24-25).
Second, faith is conviction. F. F. Bruce wrote, "Physical eyesight produces conviction or evidence of visible things; faith is the organ which enables people (like Moses in v. 27) to see the invisible order" (The Epistle to the Hebrews, p. 227). The invisible is the spiritual; it is in the realm of God and therefore in the realm of the possible.
Men and women at Calvary Church with good minds and great integrity have prayed, discussed, prayed some more, planned, and come up with a plan we believe is the path for us to follow in order to honor God the best. God has promised to bless His church, and we are going to take God at His word! Faith in God says that we have both the assurance and conviction that God will do what He says He will do.
Grace & Peace,
Scott
