Unless You Become Like Children

I was thinking this morning about the elder brother slaving away in the fields, working for his father, and how different he is from the child that Jesus said we must become in order to enter the Kingdom. How hard it is for us to trust completely on His redeeming sacrifice for everything that we need, and to believe that He truly is that merciful, kind, and generous.

The elder brother thought that he had to do something to earn His father's kindness, so he worked, and deep in his heart he waited for the debt that was owed to him. Paul tells us that that to the one who works, God is indebted, and because of this, he never enters into the Kingdom given freely by the Father.

When his younger brother came home and his father threw a party, he was angry! He was the one who deserved the fatted calf. He was the one who deserved a party! Lest we smugly dismiss the elder brother thinking that we are quite certain that God owes us nothing, because we haven't done anything to deserve it, well...you get my point. It's subtle. Fallen humans just can't comprehend a love like God's love, and we have an awful lot of self-righteousness that keeps us trying to bring something to the table for God.

“Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.” Mark 10:15

How hard it is to enter into the Kingdom and God's promises with our own work, or the sense that we must earn it in some way. When Jesus drove the demon out of the man, he said, “If I by the finger of God cast out devils, surely the kingdom of God has come unto you.” Oh, the kingdom of God, total freedom from demonic oppression, and the very nature of Jesus Himself increasingly imparted into our hearts and minds, growing and maturing like a lovely garden full of mature fruit, spices, and fragrance.

“Fear not, little flock, for it is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”(Luke 12:33) It is a gift so extravagant and underserved that only a very dependent child can reach up with joy and say, “Oh splendid! Thank you Daddy! I love you Daddy! I have the best Dad in the whole wide world!”

In a loving, happy home kids say, “Dad, can we go get ice cream? Please, please, please?” As Heidi Baker is fond of saying, “Kids just go right into the kitchen, open the refrigerator, and grab a coke.”

The Lamb has been offered. The table is set. We sup with him at the place of our poverty and need, and humbly receive his mercy and power. Our sins have been washed, and the Spirit has been given. The strong man, Satan, who held us in captivity to that awful power of sin and death, has been bound. We could never add anything to that most holy work that God wrought in Christ!

The sabbath day was the holiest day only because it foreshadowed the rest that we have in Jesus Christ. On that day, the people were commanded to cease from all of their own works. To work on that day was a grievous violation of God's command, demonstrating the seriousness of resting in Christ's work. We too, can profane the sabbath rest with our feeble attempts to earn God's promises.

"Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fastness." (Isaiah 55:2) Hear, and live! Let your soul delight in fatness. His word, alive in our souls, quickened by the Spirit, is our life, our peace, our healing, our righteousness.

May the Holy Spirit, who imparts the gift of the Kingdom into our lives, give us eyes to see that we cannot obtain what God wrought for us in Christ Jesus. May our heart eyes be opened to see all that has been given to us freely by God in Christ Jesus (1 Cor 2:12). May we lose all of our man-made religion, until all that we have left is Christ crucified, and risen again, living and abiding in us.

Isaiah cried out: "Who will believe the report of the Lord? And to whom is His arm revealed?" (Isaiah 53:1) Lord, reveal it to us in a fuller measure than we have ever known before, that every sin will be washed and transformed, and every need will be met just as you have promised. Help us to believe in the delays and Firey trials of this life, for they are indeed our potion.

After the disciples asked Jesus how to pray, he said this: “And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and ye shall find: knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened….if ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” (Luke 10:35)

Father, your Holy Spirit is here to give us all that we need. One saint said that we can have all of the Holy Spirit that we want! I am asking that you expose the thoughts and beliefs that keep us from entering your kingdom Lord. Thank you for how you tend to us so gently over the years. Thank you for your patience in growing us into your image Lord. Wash the sin and unbelief from our hearts, as only you can do. Amen

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