A Different Perspective

“ At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
2 He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. 3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.”  Matthew 18:1-5.

Sometimes it is good to kneel down and see life from the view of a child. In Matthew 18 we find 12 disciples jockeying for position to see who would be the greatest.  Can you imagine the conversation amongst the 12? “Let me get in the front of the line.  I want to sit by Jesus today!”  The argument of who would be the greatest was so evident that Jesus had to put the 1w in a timeout.  The Lord places a child in the circle of the 12 as a picture illustration of what it means to be a part of the Kingdom of God. Jesus said in a almost a humorous way, stop being childish and become like little children.  Do you see the irony of Jesus using a child as an illustration in this situation?

The position of the 12 had become high and mighty because of their close proximity with the Master.  However, they had lost perspective of what the Kingdom of God was all about. The reminder to not seek greatness but rather seek humility had to be numbing to the 12.  Have you ever been embarrassed by the Lord spotlighting how we are really acting? There is a huge difference in child-like faith and childish feelings! One is complete surrender and the other is complete selfishness.  There are times in my own personal life where God had to put the child in front of me to teach me this lesson as well.

Then there is the perspective of a child. As adults we look down on things, as children they look up to things. Children see things with much trust while adults see things with much doubt.  The differences go on and on but the fact is a child’s perspective is totally different than an adult.  And Jesus says that the most important decision of our life must be made with the faith of a child. The humility of a child is a trait that becomes the greatest. Pride is one of our greatest enemies and humility is one of our greatest friends. We are encouraged in scripture to put away childish things, but we are also encouraged to grasp faith like a Child!

On the first day of VBS I was waiting for a class of children to come to my setting.  Each class is given a sign for one of them to carry as a leader of the group. As one little girl grabbed the sign, she noticed another little girl was having a tougher day and a little sad.  The first little girl said, “Hey why don’t you carry the sign and I’ll walk in the back of the line.”  The two girls swapped places.  And this Pastor saw a picture of Child like faith through the eyes and actions of a child.  Oh, that God would magnify the humble more and more.