Monday, July 28, 2014

Child


C is for Child, my entry for this weeks ABC Wednesday.

A few years ago my friend Richie Owens spent a year of his life writing and recording an album. I remember his enthusiasm as he would bring me new songs to listen to. Songs just seemed to pour out of him as he focused on this project. One of my favorite songs that he wrote was titled "Like A Child". Richie ended up choosing the song as the title track of the album. Here are the lyrics

I remember the story from when I was young
Where Jesus was teaching one day
And there were some little ones come to see Him
But the men tried to send then away
Little did they know this gentle young man
Was the one by whom all things were made
He decided to make an example of them
To explain something He had to say

Let them come unto Me
For such is the kingdom of God
Come ye also like them
For unless you do you'll be lost
We have to trust fully in Him, not ourselves
Rely on his word before anything else
We can grow great in stature
In wisdom and health, undefiled
But be like a child

These are hard words in the world which we live
When dog eat dog's putting it mild
'cause some of the things Jesus asked us to do
With this world just can't be reconciled
But we know he has made the way for us
And we know he has conquered the grave
And we know that His grace is sufficient
So that all who will can hear Him say

Children come unto Me
For yours is the kingdom of God
You have conquered the world
For you followed My staff and My rod
You trusted fully in Me not yourselves
You relied on My word before anything else
And you never grew to big to stay in My arms
All the while...Welcome home, child

The other day as I was listening to the album (it is still one of my favorites) I started thinking about what Jesus actually meant in Matthew 18:2 - "Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven".

Autumn reads her Bible

That really is a blunt statement. If I don't become as a little child I will not be saved. It is very important that I understand what Jesus meant. My salvation depends on it. As I was considering this question, an important characteristic of little children came to mind.

One characteristic of little children is that they look up to the adults around them, especially parents. They don’t want to be left alone. They feel secure when they are with their parents. That is the way a Christian should feel about God. We should want to be with God.

In our relationship with God, we adults are in the same position as our children, except that we don’t know it. We sometimes behave as if we are running our lives, and that we are in control. We feel capable, and sometimes to such an extent that we feel we don’t really need God.


We need to know, that we are not in control. Like a child, we should always be looking up to someone for security and for help. We need to remind ourselves that we cannot handle life with our own wisdom or capabilities. In Proverbs 3:5,6 the Bible tells us "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.

At Sabbath School

This childlike quality was brought home to me by a story that my daughter told me about my granddaughter. While my granddaughter was attending Vacation Bible School, one of the activities that she was involved in was making a scroll like people used in Bible times. When she finished her scroll she told her teacher,"this is for Jesus. I'll give it to him when he comes to pick me up".

That is the kind of childlike faith that we all need to have. We are just waiting for Jesus to come pick us up so we can go home, and we have no doubts that he will be here soon.

Here is a slideshow that I put together with the Richie Owens song "Like A Child".




ABC Wednesday is a fun way to see blogs from around the world

10 comments:

  1. Great post and sweet photos!

    Leslie
    abcw team

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  2. Oh how I love that statement from your granddaughter "this is for Jesus, I'll give it to Him when He comes to pick me up"

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  3. something to be said for the childlike quality of faith
    ROG, ABC Wednesday team

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  4. Oh yes, the sweetness and innocence of children - if we could just retain it....

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  5. Kids are so pure in their thinking. Great post, Rich.

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  6. I love the sheer innocence and honesty of children.... My granddaughter who announced one day that one of her Grandma's wasn't very bright because can't answer questions iquiz games and she couldn't use a PC, I recoiled in horror because I knew which grandma was the one who could and the one who couldn't!
    I gently explained that just because somebody wasn't able to do what somebody else could doesn't mean they're the lesser person for it, I told her that God loves us all equally without any conditions, She thought for a while the asked 'Do you think God could use a PC and answer all the questions on TV quizzes'. I said I wasn't really sure, So she then replied, i'll just go and phone him and ask him'. when she returned she said,'God was out and St Peter was busy so I left a message on his answerphone', I have yet to hear the reply!

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  7. Lovely post...had not heard o fthis song...thanks for sharing♪ http://lauriekazmierczak.com/cone-flowers/

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