Luke 18: 15-17
People brought babies to Jesus, hoping he might touch them. When the disciples saw it, they shooed them off. Jesus called them back. "Let these children alone. Don't get between them and me. These children are the kingdom's pride and joy. Mark this: Unless you accept God's kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you'll never enter it."
What is the simplicity of a child?
Simple means: unassuming, modest, without additions/modification (yes or no), easy to understand, sincere, humble, foolish.
I was watching a child play and it was very much in the moment, responding to life moment by moment. She picked up a toy, than saw the water pool and stepped in, then stepped out and picked up a piece of dirt. There wasn't a lot mental process in the thought realm. "Should I pick up this toy" - she just picked up the toy without judging if the toy was the right color, in the right spot or even if it belonged to her. She just moved forward in life - non judging, unattached, present, without thought or fore plan or expectation of what should happen next. To the adults it might seem quite silly, foolish, unrelated, unexplainable why she would move from one thing to another.
At what age does the simplicities and innocence of children disappear? The moment we beat it out of them and beat common sense in. How disappointing.
God's kingdom - where, when? How about right now, not some future far off place that propels us to always look forward and not be present in the now. The kingdom: right here, right now, within ourselves. True peace for right now, not some future date to hope for.
People brought babies to Jesus, hoping he might touch them. When the disciples saw it, they shooed them off. Jesus called them back. "Let these children alone. Don't get between them and me. These children are the kingdom's pride and joy. Mark this: Unless you accept God's kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you'll never enter it."
What is the simplicity of a child?
Simple means: unassuming, modest, without additions/modification (yes or no), easy to understand, sincere, humble, foolish.
I was watching a child play and it was very much in the moment, responding to life moment by moment. She picked up a toy, than saw the water pool and stepped in, then stepped out and picked up a piece of dirt. There wasn't a lot mental process in the thought realm. "Should I pick up this toy" - she just picked up the toy without judging if the toy was the right color, in the right spot or even if it belonged to her. She just moved forward in life - non judging, unattached, present, without thought or fore plan or expectation of what should happen next. To the adults it might seem quite silly, foolish, unrelated, unexplainable why she would move from one thing to another.
At what age does the simplicities and innocence of children disappear? The moment we beat it out of them and beat common sense in. How disappointing.
God's kingdom - where, when? How about right now, not some future far off place that propels us to always look forward and not be present in the now. The kingdom: right here, right now, within ourselves. True peace for right now, not some future date to hope for.
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