Children
are blessed. I believe they are the ones that resemble our Lord Jesus the most;
they are carefree, playful, and full of life; simply put, they are innocent.
That is until they start to grow and we infect them with the Law based system
of this world.
Being
a father has made more keenly aware of the world of children. I look at my son
and I see a perfect example of the kind of lifestyle the Lord lives and
advocates; a life that is fully satisfied and basking in a loving relationship
with the Father. My son doesn’t worry about anything. Somehow, he knows that we
will address his discomfort when he expresses it. And he plays, oh my, does he
play. His play is wild-eyed, loud, and nonchalant; he doesn’t even care for his
own personal safety. He has no cares in the world. When he hurts himself during
play, all he does is cry because he’s in pain and then he just resumes whatever
he was doing (By the way, child psychologists have discovered that children
recover swiftly from emotional trauma once it is addressed quickly)
I
believe the Lord wants us to have this childlike state of innocence. Not
childishness, childlikeness. A child is not at all concerned with the problems
of this world. He just goes ahead playing. I believe God cares for this world
deeply and shares that concern and compassion with us. I also believe that
being grown-ups, we make wise decisions and calculated risks, with a reasonable
concern for our personal safety and the safety of our loved ones. At the same
time, we are supposed to grab hold of the joy and play that exists in the Trinity.
We are to declare that whatsoever contradictions we encounter will not distract
us from the bliss, the joy, the wild-eyed happiness that exists in the Trinity.
We are partakers of this happiness in Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy
Spirit and now we rejoice in knowing the unfettered and unconditional love of
God the Father.
It’s
unfortunate that many of us cannot do this, we are too damaged. I think that’s why
Paul tells us to set our minds of things above (Colossians 3:1-3) and to
concentrate on things that are lovely and of good report (Philippians 4:8), in
other words, keep your mind focused on the Gospel. It is easy to lose focus and
be distracted by the bad reports of this world, the general downward spiral of
things, the economy, and our personal tragedies. We need to always remind
ourselves of the Gospel, always keep our hearts rooted in one unshakeable fact.
God loves us and he will never stop loving us. He has our back, He’s on our side,
and He’s working to make everything right. When we keep our minds stayed on the
Gospel, then we can obtain that childlike sense of innocence and play
