Hearing the giggles, laughter and shrieks of delight from a child who is being thrown into the air by his/her father is pure awesomeness. I’m not making a statement that throwing a child in the air is risky and shouldn’t be done, or that it is ok because it creates trust between father and child. That’s a debate for another time. I’m just saying, the fun that the child is having is crazy cool. All the child knows is that he/she is having fun and that dad will be there to catch him/her. The child has absolute trust of the parent. Dad has always caught him/her, so he/she doesn’t even think to doubt. This is how we should react in the hands of our Heavenly Father.
In response to a question from His disciples concerning the place of stature for them in the Heavenly Kingdom, Jesus answers it by using the illustration of the trust of a child. Matthew 18:1-6:
At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of Heaven. Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.”
In these few verses, Jesus teaches Believers how to come into relationship with him, how to treat other believers and how Believers should live their lives for His glory.
Our Relationship with the Father
Jesus is not telling us that we must regress and become childish. Rather, He is speaking of how a child is trusting, helpless and totally dependent on his/her parents. When we are little, we believe our parents can do no wrong. They are wise, protect us and provide for us. Children don’t think about what they are going to wear or what they are going to eat. They have faith that their parents will provide for them. However, when children become older, they realize all too soon that their parents are fallible, and they start to question and doubt their parents’ abilities. Satan then uses these disappointments and doubts that we have towards not only our parents, but others as well, to tell us that God can’t be trusted. Jesus sets this thinking straight through this illustration. He tells us that we need to trust God for His protection and provision in our lives and lean totally on Him if we are going to enter Heaven. Jesus doesn’t tell us that we must donate X amount of dollars and X amount of time to Him to enter the Heavenly Kingdom. Rather, He tells us to trust Him completely. The aspect of us that Jesus wants more than anything else is our relationship with Him.
God is the ultimate parent loving His children, us, unconditionally.
Our Relationship with other Believers
Jesus then says, ”And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me….” He wants us to treat other Believers with hospitality and love as well. Because “…if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit (I John 4:12b-13).” This sounds easy, but humanly, it is impossible. Just because two people are Believers, does not mean that they see eye to eye on everything. In fact, it is hard to get along with others even 70% of the time. This is where the Holy Spirit comes through and helps us to work together with another Believer whom we really don’t care for much. We need to realize that God doesn’t call on us to act upon our feelings for another individual, but to act on God’s love towards that individual. We are called to grace, kindness, justice and gentleness towards others. This definitely takes prayer and leaning totally on God’s unconditional love.
How Believers are Called to Live their Lives
God has set Believers apart from non-Christians to live lives that exemplify His love for mankind. There are some denominations of Christianity which takes this to mean that there are certain things Christians are not allowed to do such as drink alcoholic beverages and dance. However, Paul writes to the church in Corinth that we are free to do anything. “ All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify. Let no one seek his own good, but that of his neighbor (I Corinthians 10:23 & 24).” “ Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God; just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit but the profit of the many, so that they may be saved (I Corinthians 10:31-33).”
This is what Jesus meant when He said, “…whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.”
Just because I may not have a problem with drinking a beer with dinner, doesn’t mean I should. If I’m drinking with someone who is an alcoholic, I should not have the beer, because I may cause that person to have a relapse. I need to put others’ needs above my own in order to show God’s love.
In order to grow in Christ, Believers need to become childlike in their trust in God, welcome other believers into their homes and friendship circles and put others before themselves. When we do these three things, we are showing the non-believing world God’s love and by doing that, some non-believers will give God the glory and be saved by accepting Jesus as their Savior just as we do. We need to live our lives here on earth as practice for living our lives for eternity in Heaven.
Photo credit: https://www.rootedfamily.com/lifestyle/relationships/10-crazy-things-we-do- for-our-kids-that-we-need-to-stop/
