Last week we looked at the idea of repentance,
the act of turning away from doing things our way and embracing God’s Kingdom
through Jesus. This week I want to look at the larger context of that dynamic -
who we become through the process.
Recently the elders and I walked through a
passage in Matthew 18 and a phrase jumped out at me - highlighted below:
“At that time the
disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of
heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and 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 18:1-4 ESV)
Jesus is calling us here to enter the Kingdom
of heaven and in order to do that we need to “turn and become like children.”
Sin ages us; it makes us act independent in inappropriate ways - ways that
don’t involve God or community. Think of children who are forced to “grow up
too fast,” usually victims of some form of abuse that forces them to look after
themselves (and/or siblings) from a young age. Perhaps this was your
experience.
Sin forces us to age in inappropriate ways. In
one way or another, we have all learned this and need to be made young again so
that Jesus and the foolish offer of the gospel of the Kingdom of God can make
sense to us.
Chesterton put it best:
“Because children
have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore
they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, ‘Do it again’; and
the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people
are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to
exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, ‘Do it again’ to
the sun; and every evening, ‘Do it again’ to the moon. It may not be automatic
necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy
separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the
eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father
is younger than we. The repetition in Nature may not be a mere recurrence; it
may be a theatrical encore.”[1]
As we journey through Lent, take time to
become young again. Cultivate vulnerability, wonder, slowness, repetition,
creativity and play. Otherwise, the foolishness of Good Friday and Easter
Sunday may have no practical relevance to your life.
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