Becoming Like Children

So I’m sitting in the airport flying back to Atlanta yesterday and I’m people watching. We all do it and it’s fun, especially at airports. Well, something occurred to me while I’m watching a group of kids cruise by…they ain’t worried about a thing. They’re just being kids. Happy about everything, just doing their thing and I became consumed with the idea that we need to become more like kids in that kids don’t try and control anything. They’re just busy being kids. They don’t care about a public image, what they wear or what they think other people see of them. They’re just what they are, nothing more nothing less. (To be clear, I’m not referring to teenagers…Ha!)Jesus said we have to become like children to enter the kingdom, because children know they’re not in control of everything. They’re not anxious about tomorrow. They’re in the moment. If there’s a God and He really loves us, well, it makes sense that He’d want us to be like children. He’d want us to laugh. He’d want us to admit who we really are. No wonder Jesus wants us to get over ourselves and turn toward Him. He told us that if we lose our own lives for His sake, we’ll find real life. It’s a startling message, and it’s ironic when we treat it lightly.You see, the truth about us really is the good news, that God still wants us, and He is restoring the world. He’ll even use us to do it. We’re not good people, but we’re deeply loved anyway. And the truth about us is like all truth from Jesus: It sets us free, in so many unexpected and profound ways.Hey, I’m convinced my pride is the great destroyer of everything fun, and I’m much more fun to be around when I can get over myself. It’s our pride that drives us from God. Nothing else can do it. Paul wrote, “neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow – not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love”. All the forces of the universe cannot stop us…if we finally come to the end of ourselves. True humility is the final repudiation of self-righteousness, the rejection of the very idea that our way is better, that somehow we’d be more, accomplish more, or reach our potential if we rejected God’s way for our own.So let’s all go be a kid...seriously, do you. He loves YOU!Be Nice. Grace Wins.FMJ