“Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3, NASB)
Who do aspire to be? The world’s greatest golfer? A humble servant? OK, maybe I shot a little high on that one. How about just being a better golfer and winning your flight in the club championship? That may be a more attainable. And maybe the more realistic goal is having the faith of a child, instead of being such a humble servant that you become very proud about it.
The point is that Jesus says there is greatness in children. Jesus did not make it hard to understand. His goal for us is to have the faith of a child. He wanted any and all to attain the simple, yet profound, gift of salvation by grace through faith. It still is not complicated, although some may make it so.
We as followers of Jesus believe that to be absent from the body is to be present with our Lord. Jesus has promised that he is preparing a place for us and that the last will be first. Strangely, this end-of-life understanding is made possible through childlike faith. Our eternal hope lives in Jesus’ promise: “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:2-3). Do you see how this picture is just the kind a child can understand?
This awesome childlike faith is wonderfully demonstrated by a recent inspiring story of a young girl trusting through the death of her father. Some friends in north Texas have such a story.
One of my wife’s best friends from high school has a daughter who just lost her husband to cancer at the age of 40. This entire family has been an encouragement to so many of us as they have demonstrated their faith through real life experiences. The recent loss of their son-in-law is tragic, but God has a way of giving us hope through the unassuming faith of a child in this family.
This family has three young daughters, the youngest being a Down Syndrome child. She and her dad were best buds, and they spent so much time together as he battled this cancer for the past two years. On the morning he died, this girl was at school. A friend brought her home to be with the family. Her mom greeted her at the door and got down on one knee and tried to explain through the tears what they had tried to prepare for in the last few weeks. Words were hard and the emotion was great. She explained, “Your dad is not coming back here now. He is with Jesus and is comfortable and out of pain. There is no more suffering. And, we can go to him someday. Jesus has prepared a place for us, too.”
This beautiful child of God looked up at her mom and exclaimed, “Well, then why are you crying?” Exactly. I want that kind of faith. I desire to have the faith of a child. I need that kind of hope. To be absent from the body is to be present with Jesus. I believe he has prepared a place for all who trust him. What about you?
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Randy Wolff
January 3, 2018
Copyright 2018 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.