My boys rediscovered some marbles they had gotten for their birthday recently and had a blast discovering what they could do. As I observed them going around the house looking for objects that their magnetic marbles would attach to, I was struck by their wonder and excitment. They ended up deciding the bathtub was the best source for adventure and spent quite some time spinning the marbles around the tub, making sculptures, and other inventive things with the marbles.
It reminded me of Jesus' reference to children when he said that unless we become like little children, we can never enter the kingdom of God. (Matthew 18:3). Usually I see that verse and think about the faith that children have in things that don't seem real to adults. Children aren't concerned about scientific proof, they just believe. When I read Jesus' words I think he means that we need to believe our heavenly father the way young children believe and trust their parents. And that is all true. Yet today I've been thinking more about how children become so obsessed with something they are interested in and so unrestrained in their joy about it. How simple a magnetic marble is yet how awe inspiring to a child. I wonder if Jesus may have also been referring to the passion children have for life and could this also be what he says we need to have to enter the kingdom of heaven?
God doesn't only want our verbal assent that we believe in him. He's not selling life insurance. He doesn't want godly actions that come from a heart that doesn't love him. What does it mean to "love the Lord you God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind?" I think Jesus wants us to fall in love with him, to be willing to sell all we have to buy that eternal treasure, to be so obsessed with him that nothing else matters. He wants us to take joy in the things he has made, to spend time thinking about him, talking with him, learning from him. He wants us to have no inhibitions in running straight into his arms and calling him "Abba."
When my kids spend all afternoon thoroughly enjoying life, I think that God wants me to learn from them. God wants me to have that same passion for him--- to have the heart of a child.
"The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field." Matthew 13:44
"O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water. I have seen you in your sanctuary and gazed upon your power and glory. Your unfailing love is better than life itself; how I praise you! I will praise you as long as I live, lifting up my hands to you in prayer. You satisfy me more than the richest feast. I will praise you with songs of joy. I lie awak thinking of you, meditating on you through the night. Because you are my helper, I sing for joy in the shadow of your wings. I cling to you; your strong right hand holds me securely." Psalm 63: 1-8
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