The Humility of a Child
The human condition is fraught with comparison. We evaluate each other, we size each other up, we compete and fight for better resources than the people next to us. Call it survival of the fittest, selfishness, or pride, in our natural state we are in a constant state of finding our worth in relation to the person next to us.
One of the great results of Christ's work in our lives is that we can step out of the destructive cycle of comparison and find our worth, not in the temporary and fickle standard of cultural or economic success, but in the eternal standard of His grace. He levels the playing field and elevates the lowliest among us to the same level as the greatest. In a culture that puts up castes and divisions, Christ tears them down and tells us our ethnic, racial, gender, age, and economic divisions are wiped out and we are brought together in a beautiful tapestry of people called according to HIS purposes.
Unfortunately Christians are experts at reconstructing those divisions and walls through judgmental attitudes, ethnic divisions, and economic standards.
This is nothing new.
The disciples, while Jesus was still walking the earth, were caught up in the idea of the physical Kingdom of God. Jesus would be on the throne, Israel predominant over all other nations, and Jesus' favorite disciples on His right and left to help Him make decisions. They clamored for the place of honor among the disciples with the hopes of transferring that to a place of honor in the eternal Kingdom.
So they asked Jesus, even after His repeated teaching against this attitude, "Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?" Matthew 18:1 By this, read, "Who among us will be in charge, under your authority, of course?"
I imagine Jesus rolling His eyes and looking around for the person of least status in the crowd. Finding a little child who had no legal rights or status in the culture (excepting firstborn sons), He put the child in front of the group and said, "Unless you are converted (change course), 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." Matthew 18:2-4
This is a paradigm shift for the disciples. To be great, I have to empty myself of my rights and privileges, and set myself in a position of no status.
Jesus doesn't stop there. He continues by pronouncing judgment on anyone who causes people like this to stumble. Who puts barriers in the way of a child coming to faith. Who puts walls in the way of a young believer (or non believer) who is on a journey to Christ.
We'll see in a couple chapters that even Jesus' closest disciples didn't get the message.
What stumbling blocks are you placing in front of people coming to faith? Which of your actions or attitudes do you need to empty yourself of to remove barriers for your children to see Christ for who He is?
Let's commit together to be people of no status so the lowly among us can be exalted.
One of the great results of Christ's work in our lives is that we can step out of the destructive cycle of comparison and find our worth, not in the temporary and fickle standard of cultural or economic success, but in the eternal standard of His grace. He levels the playing field and elevates the lowliest among us to the same level as the greatest. In a culture that puts up castes and divisions, Christ tears them down and tells us our ethnic, racial, gender, age, and economic divisions are wiped out and we are brought together in a beautiful tapestry of people called according to HIS purposes.
Unfortunately Christians are experts at reconstructing those divisions and walls through judgmental attitudes, ethnic divisions, and economic standards.
This is nothing new.
The disciples, while Jesus was still walking the earth, were caught up in the idea of the physical Kingdom of God. Jesus would be on the throne, Israel predominant over all other nations, and Jesus' favorite disciples on His right and left to help Him make decisions. They clamored for the place of honor among the disciples with the hopes of transferring that to a place of honor in the eternal Kingdom.
So they asked Jesus, even after His repeated teaching against this attitude, "Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?" Matthew 18:1 By this, read, "Who among us will be in charge, under your authority, of course?"
I imagine Jesus rolling His eyes and looking around for the person of least status in the crowd. Finding a little child who had no legal rights or status in the culture (excepting firstborn sons), He put the child in front of the group and said, "Unless you are converted (change course), 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." Matthew 18:2-4
This is a paradigm shift for the disciples. To be great, I have to empty myself of my rights and privileges, and set myself in a position of no status.
Jesus doesn't stop there. He continues by pronouncing judgment on anyone who causes people like this to stumble. Who puts barriers in the way of a child coming to faith. Who puts walls in the way of a young believer (or non believer) who is on a journey to Christ.
We'll see in a couple chapters that even Jesus' closest disciples didn't get the message.
What stumbling blocks are you placing in front of people coming to faith? Which of your actions or attitudes do you need to empty yourself of to remove barriers for your children to see Christ for who He is?
Let's commit together to be people of no status so the lowly among us can be exalted.
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