Recently, while my wife and I, with our two children, were in an airport terminal awaiting our flight, we discovered a play area. The children loved it; my wife and I, however, were forbidden entrance. The entrance conditions excluded anyone more than four feet tall.
As we watched our children enjoy playing, I thought of the words of Jesus when He said, "Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 18:3)
You see, the kingdom, or the family of God - like the airport play area - is restricted to those who are small enough to enter.
When Jesus builds His kingdom disciple by disciple, He searches out small people to take up the cross and follow Him. Jesus does not bribe great thinkers, financial tycoons or religious giants to be star converts in His kingdom.
His true church, after all, is not a stage on which to exhibit talent or celebrate success. Neither is it an arena in which to display Christian superstars, or a platform on which to parade heroes.
In fact, I know of no political, religious, or social theory that brings such radical answers to social inequality as the gospel of Jesus Christ. And in Christian churches where Jesus' teaching is followed, Christians are forced to step out of a world focused on an individual's wealth, abilities, beauty or education into a kingdom driven by ethics of love and humility. From a world of "make yourself into something" into a world where each is called to "esteem others better than themselves."
Jesus asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" He answered His own question with the words in Matthew 18:3, then gave the definition of kingdom greatness: "Whosoever shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven."
Imagine! A place where a person's worth comes, not from degrees, achievements or beauty, but from humility. A kingdom where serving others is success and abandoning ourselves is achievement.
Does Jesus description of greatness surprise you?
Have you spent a lifetime pursuing society's accepted ingredients of success?
Pause for a brutally honest look within. Has self-achievement brought you heart satisfaction? Has self-focus brought you purpose and fulfillment? Or have your "successes" been well-groomed fronts for spiritual meaninglessness?
Perhaps Jesus' words merit consideration . . .
Regardless, Jesus opens the gates of His kingdom to small people. And the miracle is that, through what Jesus called the new birth, He can make great men and women small, equal, humble disciples in the fraternity of His followers.
Jesus kingdom welcomes all -- provided they are small enough. If you are small enough, or willing to be small enough, please come into His kingdom.
--Arlin Weaver, Fordwich, ON
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December 2009 Edition
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In his well-known poem, Mending Walls, Robert Frost wrote, “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall.”
How true.
Human nature resists the restrictions of a wall. Yet not all walls are bad – and life has many walls and hedges, some which we build ourselves, and some which others erect for our good.
We build some hedges to keep things out—like the fence I put up this spring, to try to keep the deer out of our garden. Other walls are meant to keep things in, like the farmer who keeps his cows from wandering off by building fences.
Hedges and walls often do serve a valuable and practical purpose, and we usually like them – when their purpose is well served. For example, in our houses they keep the cold out and the warmth in, at this time of year.
There is an aspect, however, in which hedges and walls carry a negative implication. Walls are not always friendly. And when walls are used negatively, they become a means of irritation to those who meet up with them.
The recent anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall focussed on the tragedy of a barrier whose purpose was to divide a nation and a people. In its 28 year history that wall caused many tears and heartaches for those affected by its division. It was a wall which was hated by many, and ultimately, to the joy of many, it came crashing down, representing freedom to those in whose path it had once stood.
“Something there is that doesn’t love a wall.”
However, let’s remember that not all barriers are bad. In fact, there are some which we badly need.
In the Bible, in Job 1:9, we are given a glimpse into the spirit world. Satan is accusing God of specifically protecting people who honour and fear Him. “Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side?”
It was true. God had built a spiritual hedge around Job, which protected him. Satan could not cross that barrier. For reasons which are not fully known to us, in this account we see God temporarily allowing Satan to reach Job. First Satan destroyed Job’s possessions. Then even his children all died in a Satan-induced storm.
Job bore his afflictions well. He did not lose his faith in God, and as a result of this account, we remember Job today by the familiar label, “The Patience of Job.”
This Bible story is a lesson for us. Faith is the avenue by which we come to know God. And God rewards faith in Him—one way being by a hedge of spiritual protection.
That is a hedge for which to thank God.
—Mervin Brubacher, Barwick, ON
Come In! . . .
If You Are Small Enough
