Faith like a child
I had just returned from grocery shopping at Safeway and was in the kitchen sorting out what I bought. I love chocolates especially the (supposedly) healthy ones and so when I saw almond covered in dark chocolate I quickly picked up a pack and added it to my items. I immediately got excited that I could hardly wait till I got home.
[shareable cite=”Luke 18:17 ESV” text=”Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”]Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it..[/shareable]Naturally, as I was loading the items in the pantry, I ensured some of the chocolates found their way to my mouth. My six year old son passed by and saw that I was in good spirit opening the refrigerator. “Dad, what’s that?” he asked. Teasing him, I said its “brown grape” and continued what I was doing. “That looks different. Can I have some?” Sure, I said and I handed him the open pack. He took some, I returned the pack to the refrigerator and continued what I was doing. Suddenly it occurred to me the kitchen tap was running. Just as I looked behind me, my little boy shut off the tap, removed “the brown grape” from under it and put it in his mouth!
I was shocked and exclaimed, “did you actually rinse that?” “Yes, its grape, I need to rinse it” and he continued saying, “this tastes different!” I burst out laughing while he looked at me puzzled. He did not immediately get the joke!
Bad daddy! 🙂 I had inadvertently deceived him thinking he knew I was joking! That’s not really the point by the way. He is my son and we have a relationship. Even though he is just six years old, he has come to trust my words and believe them without thinking – hook, line, sinker, the fisherman and his boots! Then the words of our Lord Jesus Christ came to mind very clearly that whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. Very true! My son just taught me what that meant.
The scriptures is loaded with vast amount of promises that we as believers attempt to hold on to on a daily basis but I think we really miss out eventually courtesy of our complex thinking. By our logic, by our questions. I now see where I sometimes fail when it comes to believing God. I say I trust Him yet I try to figure things out instead of enjoying the process and building my character while I wait. It doesn’t work that way. Either I learn to trust Him like a child not questioning or I don’t and choose to handle things my way. I see the world around me threaten my very peace of mind and I ask, “Where is God?”, “Why are these things happening?”, “Why am I facing these challenges?” when in reality I see He is in the same place He was when Christ was on the cross, when Paul was beheaded, when Stephen was stoned to death. If only we will choose to stay true to His word and believe Him like a little child, then will we experience true freedom and peace.
With this understanding, join me in declaring that “nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and (I) am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.”
Shalom!
Copyright 2015 Dapo Bankole. Readers are permitted to use quotations from this post as long as appropriate credit is given to http://dapobankole.com as the source.
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