~ Matthew 18.3 (NIV)
Sometimes I wish that we adults could have even an inkling opf the faith that little kids have. While we adults seek ways to have God proven to us, children merely bask in the glory that God exists and that he is there for them. While we adults thank God for providing us with food, shelter and security, children thank him for every toy, blade of grass, pet, bug, candy - they pretty much thank him for everything. While we adults sing self-consiously in church, aware of every movement that we make, children sing as loud and joyfully as they can, not caring how well they can carry a tune, and they dance with an uninhibiting eagerness, just praising God with joyful noise.
Kids don't worry about money or relationships or security. They have the faith to trust God with everything that they have. They know that they are loved by the wonderful God who created them, and unlike us adults, they aren't afraid to let others know it. No wonder the kingdom of heaven belongs to them!!!!
Dear Lord Almighty, help me to put my faith in you as a child puts his or her faith in you. Give me the courage and the strength to know that you will always love me, and help me to show others how much you love them too. Help me to find the faith I had in you as a child, so that I may enter your kingdom. Amen
Posted by Kelley Wood 19 October 2003 - Please do not reproduce witout permission.
~ John 3.16 (NIV)
Perhaps the most well known verse in theNew Testament, this verse says it all. School children memorize it in Sunday School classes, teenagers chant it in songs, and grown men weep openly when they realize they finally accept, understand, and believe it. But what does it mean?
God has loved the world; he has done so ever since he first created it so long ago. Ever since the days of Adam and Eve, God has been there, guiding us, loving us, trying to keep us safe and with him. But since the days of Adam and Eve, there has been one thing that has separated us from God - SIN. From the time of the apple, we have fallen short of the glory that God has created for us, the glory of being with him and in sharing in his splendor and in the majesty of his grace.
God had only one choice in bringing us back to him. He gave up his precious Son so willingly. Imagine having to make such a choice. The life of your own child, your pride and joy. Would you or I have been able to make such a sacrifice? God did, not because he had to. He could have wiped the earth clean and started completely from scratch with a new batch of sinless humans, had he beeen so inclinded. But he wasn't, and he didn't. He wanted to be in communion with those that he had already created, and he did so with the death of his son, Jesus. Yet, people had to choose to be in communion with him, we had to believe in him om order to see this splendor and majesty, for while the death of Jesus wipes the slate clean, it is only for those who choose to believe in him and call on his name.
Lord, thank you for giving us the ultimate sacrifice so that we might be able to have eternal life with you. Let us always call upon your name, and believe in you, so that we might one day see you in all of your splendor and majesty and reach our full potential in your kingdom. Amen
Posted by Kelley Wood 19 October 2003 - Please do not reproduce witout permission.