Verily I say unto
you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise
enter therein.
Luke 18:17
Receiving the kingdom of God is not a verbal expression, but an act
that requires a total submission and openness of ones heart… The words recorded
in today’s focus verse shine light on the fact that we must have the mindset and
attitude of a child when it comes to the kingdom of God … A child is very gullible (innocent,
trusting) and accepting in their early years; having this mindset allows them in
their youth to believe any and everything that they are told by their parents…
Santa is real because of words spoken, the tooth fairy exist because they are
taught of his being and fear is eased when a parent says everything is okay… In Christ, when we
have this mindset we trust and hang on every word of God… We can stand in the
midst of adversity and smile because we remember what our father told us and we
declare it to be true… When the enemy seem so to be on the attack, having the
mind of a child says you will not win and joy
comes in the morning… Even when faced with trials and tribulations
and obstacles that appear to be too steep to overcome; having a child’s mindset
allows you to rely on our heavenly father will not only provide the source of
comfort and the ability to withstand the situation that you are faced with and
speak into the atmosphere that this too shall
pass… This is why we are reminded today that the kingdom of God can only be entered when you have this
mindset… When you lose sight of thinking like a child in the aspects of your
spiritual life you then allow that crevice of opportunity for the enemy to slip
in and get you to start thinking according to your own desires… A child can be
formed and molded for a specific task or purpose; however, we all have heard the
saying, you can’t teach an old dog new
tricks… You have to be able to be molded to reach the levels that God
has designed you to reach, you have to have the mindset to think outside of the
proverbial box and display your faith which means that you don’t have to know
everything that is going on… Jesus is referring to a told reformation that must
take place in ones life and it starts in the mind… If you can’t break yourself
to believe what you Eternal Father is telling you, how do you expect to reach
and enter the gates of heaven…? This is the question that we all must answer and
it’s the same question that we all have trouble answering… Your faith and
relationship with God is shown by how you accepting you are of His ways, will
and plans… The problems that we face in this
life are not because we are ill equipped, but because we are set in our ways
even when it comes to serving a God who says that “His ways are not our
ways…” This isn’t even about compromising with God, but about
transforming your way of thinking like Paul said in his letter to the church of
Rome…
Luke makes a declaration to us today
that is worthy of interpretation… He says that whosever shall not receive the
kingdom of
God as a child shall not
enter in… When one reads this verse, we need to begin to examine the mindset and
characteristics that children carry… This examination will give us the tools
that we are to possess as a child of God! Many people declare that “a leopard
can’t change his spots;” however, in Christ all things are possible and this is
how we must think… If we believe that Christ can do anything but fail, if we
trust that His ways are perfect, then our lives to should full of fear (awe,
reverence and respect) for Him which will also lead us down the path of
obedience… Thinking that we must know
everything, believing that we must take on all different kinds of projects and
handle every situation is the exact which Luke is telling us that we must
avoid. We cannot become set in our ways, nor become defiant with the
word of God and expect blessings to flow; we cannot try and mold God into our
lifestyles and expect to receive his glory and mercy into our lives… We need the
mindset of a little child! Notice Luke says a little child,
because we must understand that the older we become the more defiant we are… A
little child is only focused and exposed to the Love of his or her parents. When
children are little and a stranger picks them up, often times they immediately
look for there parents and if they don’t find them, they will begin to cry. This
study goes hand and hand with our Christian lifestyle… The devil (a stranger)
will come and try to pick us up (bring us away from God’s will and love) and we
must seek our parents and cry out instead of accepting whatever comes our way…
When a child cries, there parents will always hear them, Jesus cried out several
times on the cross because he never knew sin, it was a stranger to him and he
looked his father… A little child is full of energy and can find excitement even
in turmoil… A child can be popped or spanked and will cry, but in a matter of
moments can be laughing and enjoying the moment. We must understand that often
times we will under hardships, we will go through turmoil, but we must maintain
our excitement, we must maintain our joy knowing that God’s love is still there,
that no weapon formed shall prosper and understanding that he will never forsake
us. The child cries from pain, but never
loses the respect or love of there parents. God’s love is always being bestowed
upon you, so keep your faith, and run this course in your life with vigor and
joy knowing that your are a child of God and to be His child means you are
loved, you will be happy, and no matter what happens, you can trust that you
will be content and victory is assured… People may think that you are
naive when you have total submission and fear of the Lord; however, as we are
reminded today in the gospel of Luke, those same people will wish they had the
mindset when they see you exalted and given the keys to your mansion on the
other side of the Jordan
river …
BE
BLESSED!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment