Day 2448 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.


Luke 18:17 NIV

You know what's weird? As we grow up we start thinking we have it all figured out. We look back on our younger days and almost laugh at how silly and gullible we were. We reminisce on some of the goofy things we did and some of the things we fell for and we can't help but think we've got a better handle on life now that we're older and wiser. But the problem is the more we learn the more we think we know. And the more we think we know the less we try to learn. Maybe that's another one of those things that we should reconsider.

As we talked about yesterday, we've made this walk a bit too complicated. We've been in such a rush to leave our childish ways behind that we've maybe lost some of the value and important aspects of those younger ways of thinking. Maybe we've tossed out and left behind some things that would actually help us greatly moving forward. And maybe it's time that we try to get back to a few of them because well, maybe being a little more childish isn't really that bad of an idea.

Think back on who you were and how you lived as a little kid. Were you busy trying to prove yourself all the time? Were you worried about getting everything just right to the point of overthinking everything and wearing yourself out? Did you see trust as something to be earned or simply given? Were you so filled with doubt that you found it nearly impossible to believe in anything? Were you so strict and uptight that you didn't allow yourself to do something silly and laugh and enjoy just being alive?

Of course not. When we were little kids we laughed and we dreamed. We were full of hope and ideas that seemed impossible but really exciting. We had this innocence that we didn't even consider because it was all we knew. We didn't stop to consider if something was possible, we just believed in things. We were more able to trust because we didn't know what it meant not to. We weren’t afraid of the unknown because that’s the part that made us the most excited. We were just in awe of life and all the interesting and exciting parts of it. We looked for the best in everything because, well, why not?

But as we talked about yesterday, we lost a lot of that along the way. Nowadays we're worried about everything. We doubt more than we trust. We look for the downsides and the ways that things can go wrong. We worry about making mistakes and ending up disappointed. We've traded our hope in the impossible for the comfort of the plans we think we can accomplish. We try to do everything on our own because we think it's all on us. We see everything as dollar signs and try to earn our way to what we hope for in life. We see everything as a job that we have to do, not an opportunity that we’ve been given.

It's pretty easy to see why Jesus says that if we don't turn back and approach the kingdom of Heaven like little children that we'll never enter it. There's no room for pride, arrogance, selfishness, greed, doubt, vanity, worldly success or acclaim, or any other 'grown up' thing that we've learned to chase. Faith is supposed to be built on trust, love, hope, patience, humility, forgiveness, and this excitement that can't be contained. But how many of those things fit with how we see faith today? Or are you like me who has taken a more rigid, more strict, more professional view of faith as something that we have to work for?

Friends, we really do need to get back to seeing our faith like little kids again. Not trying to work our way into Heaven but humbly understanding that doing so isn't possible. Not trying to be perfect so that we can deserve God's love and forgiveness but realizing that they're gifts we could never possibly deserve. Not allowing doubt or shame to lead us to thinking that we're too far gone but accepting the fact that His love can reach all the way down to where we've fallen.

It may not make sense to our mature, overthinking, and doubtful selves. But to a kid who believes in the impossible and trusts in the providence and love that is bigger than our minds can understand, well, it's nothing but exciting!

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