Regent University School of Udnergraduate Studies

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

The Child-Like Mandate

"I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." –Matthew 18:3-4

"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."—Mark 10:14-15

Jesus did not emphasize many statements as a prerequisite for entering the kingdom of God—we would be wise to take it seriously. I am often curious why so little attention is afforded this 'Child-Like Mandate.' The expositions on these passages, and their parallels, that I have heard seem to 'explain them away' more than look for Christ's heart in them. Usually, the passage is reduced to an analogy about faith (children believe their parents without question, so we should believe God without question.)

Mm, maybe that's an alright point, but I think it misses the heart of the issue. In fact, it sort of suggests blind acceptance of Christ's ways which contradicts the biblical concept of honesty—which includes intellectual honesty.

I could point to the child-like qualities that I think Jesus was referring to, but I think that I would miss the point as well. (Although I think it is worthy of note that the one character trait Jesus pointed out in the children was humility.) I think Jesus was pointing to the nature of children as a whole—except their nature—their purity, meekness, love, quickness to forgive, and their faith. Of course, even many children do not reflect child-like traits as they seek to become older, tougher, etc—but most of us, nonetheless, have a general picture of the true nature of childhood.

Shame on us if we grow so enamored with our own 'understanding,' 'success,' and 'confidence' that we neglect the mandate to become as children.

Saturday, September 8, 2007

The Un-Owned Soul.

Owned. That describes most of us. All of us.

Cultural analysts point to the current trend to trade in civil freedoms in the name of national security, but that's what has been happening on a social level for decades. We've traded our liberty to think as individuals in exchange for the safety of conformity. In fact, we've been doing it for so long that we're beginning to lose touch with reality. That's the first sign of insanity, and certainly absurdity.

We have forgotten the reality that we are flesh and blood, and we live on a material earth, that exists now, and existed before the twenty-first century. It is real. Our ability to act and choose is real. The fact that we are alive is real. We are a part of history. We can choose to do whatever we wish with our lives.

But we've forgotten that fact. Instead we bow as idolaters before our Golden Culture. Culture is not real—it is manmade. It doesn't exist, it is an idea, an idea that is subject to our approval, not the other way around. We are as described by the prophet Isaiah: He feeds on ashes, a deluded heart misleads him; he cannot save himself, or say, "Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?" (Isaiah 44:20, New International Version).

Sometimes the best medicine is to find a lonely field to sit silently in, feel the dirt with your fingers, imagine the people that walked on it before you, and realize that you are bound to the earth, and the earth is yours. Your life is your own. God gave it to you. This is your one chance to be the image
of God.
Don't let presumptuous cultural mores dictate who are and what you do.

Think. Examine. Live.

Remember, you are responsible first to God, and then to the authorities he sets up—and culture is not one of them. (Romans 12).

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