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Sunday July 6, 2008 "Faith Like A Child" - Message by Lauren Evans, Director of Youth, BCC |
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Location: Blogs Brad's BlogBrad's Sermons |
 | | Posted by: Brad Miller | 7/9/2008 9:45 AM | Faith Like a child, seems a bit backward doesn’t it….Why would we want to spend our time worrying about becoming more child-like, when we have finally made it to adult hood. When I was a kid I couldn’t grow up fast enough. I wanted to drive a car like my dad and go to work and get money like my mom. I wanted to make my own rules, my own bedtime, and not have to answer to anyone. Well here I am, and I must say that some parts of being an adult are nice. I can get in my car and drive to the store if I have a sudden urge for mint chocolate chip ice cream. I can stay up late, and I don’t have to finish all of my vegetables. Why would I want to go back to being completely dependent; to wearing whatever my mom put on me, sharing my toys and having to take a nap everyday…wait a minute- a nap would be kind of nice right now.Jesus tells the disciples in Mark that the kingdom of God belongs to the little children. He goes on to say that anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it. Never enter it!!…that’s quite a statement. Maybe the childhood we wanted so much to grow out of as kids, and somewhat wish we had back as adults can teach us a thing or two about faith. We grown-ups think we have all the answers…we are educated, self-supporting, and rational (for the most part). I mean children are the ones coming to us for advice, seeking wisdom and direction. So what can we possibly learn from them? Well, I think children have one-upped us on a few key areas.First, children are very trusting and accepting. I am always amazed working in my elementary school, to see kids playing on the playground or eating together in the cafeteria. Everyone is welcome to join the game of tag, or sit down to eat. You don’t need a resume or a background check, it doesn’t matter if you have bologna or peanut butter and jelly, everyone belongs…black, white, short, tall, poor, or rich. Children don’t notice these things and therefore don’t focus on them. Sure kids can be mean…there are those kids that see my students with disabilities and might make a comment like- “Ewwww” or laugh, but most often it comes from a place of naivety. Once they get to know my students they immediately accept them as just one of the kids.Children are also trusting. They trust what their parents say without debate. They know that their parents have their best interests at heart and even in those unfortunate cases where parents don’t, they still trust. Children know that they don’t have all the answers and believe in the people they trust…I think that’s what Jesus was trying to explain to his disciples; that they should believe in him and accept his teaching without having to know the interworkings of the universe. To be content knowing that God loved them.I think that’s hard for us adults to do…life is more complicated than when we were kids. Instead of the occasional scrape and cancellation of our favorite cartoon show, we have $50.00 pump fill ups and competitiveness to be the best at work. It’s hard to trust because we have seen the not so good side of the world and are always looking over our shoulder. Maybe too, we have convinced ourselves that we can go it alone, that being confident and independent are good traits to possess, but children know better. They realize that we were meant to be dependent.As adults we are not very good at asking for help. I once heard a story from a friend of mine’s dad who loved riding motorcycles. He told us of his riding buddy who was a real macho man, a manly man so to speak, who had a bad stomach ache before one of their rides – he complained a little bit, but he said “I’ll be all right,” and still rode that day. Turns out his appendix had burst about two weeks before. Riding a motorcycle with a busted appendix almost killed him. Someone later asked him why he didn’t go to a doctor to which he said, “It’s not easy to ask for help.” If we can’t ask for help when our guts are exploding, how can we find the help we need for our everyday lives? We need to lose the illusion that we are in control and as Carrie Underwood puts it, “Let Jesus take the wheel.”Finally, I think we can learn from children that it’s okay to be ordinary and yet believe in the extraordinary. God accepts us with our flaws and our imperfections, he embraces our differences. Yet we still feel the need to display an outward perfection, to keep up with the Jones’. Young children aren’t worried what others will think of them; they live in the moment, rejoicing in the simplicities and oddities of life. They maintain a since of wonder and belief in the unknown or even the seemingly impossible. They still believe in the statement “happily ever after” and are in awe at an exciting magic trick without needing to comment on the fact that the magician is simply using an illusion. Brad has been talking about miracles the past few weeks and it had me thinking about how hard it is sometimes to just believe and rejoice in the extraordinary.When I was younger I thought adults knew everything, had all the answers, but now I realize that I am far from being all-knowing, in fact I think with each passing day I am learning I know less and less and need to depend on God more and more.I’d like to share a story of a 2 ½ year old girl old. Just before her 3rd birthday her mom and dad brought her home a little baby brother. She began to ask her parents if she could spend some time with the new baby. They said, “Well of course honey, we’re a family now – we’ll spend a lot of time together.” “No,” she said “I want to be with the baby alone.” Now, those of you who have ever had children and especially ever witnessed sibling rivalry will understand why the mom and dad were not real enthusiastic about the idea of leaving the baby alone with his big sister. But she kept up her campaign – and was unrelenting. So finally one afternoon mom and dad said, “OK, we will let you have some time alone.” So they put the baby down in his crib and they let the little girl go in by herself – they kept the door open and they watched her through the crack to see what she would do. The little girl walked over to the crib and said, in a barely audible voice, “Tell me what God is like – I’ve almost forgotten.”Sometimes I feel that way, like I came into this world knowing more about God than I do now and that all this time in the ”real world” has made me lose touch. The more I think about it though, being an adult gives us the option to have the best of both worlds. To strive for a child-like faith and have the adult-like experience and resources to back it up. To take our money and our jobs and all the things we have worked hard for and use them for the good through the eyes of a child, eyes filled with trust, belief and wonder. Just as God is our heavenly Father, we need to learn how to be his children, and being at this church surrounded by this loving community is a perfect place to begin acting our age.
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