Others Centered

#5 As a Child

The 5th characteristic that Erwin lays out to describe the style of Jesus  comes from Mark chapter 10.:13-16:

13 Then they brought little children to Him, that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked those who brought them.
14 But when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased and said to them, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God.
15 Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.”
16 And He took them up in His arms, laid His hands on them, and blessed them.

Jesus told us that to get into Heaven, we must be childlike in our faith.  Some people will call that naive but that is not the point Jesus is making.

Erwin starts off by saying a child is nonthreatening.  Nobody is intimidated by a child and that is how we are to live as Christians.  It is not our calling to threaten people into accepting God, though so many Christians resort to this.  It is easy to do because it is the way of the world.  When you can’t convince by reason, it is nearly automatic to use force. Jesus never did this.  Even though He created the world and could have destroyed all of His foes in an instant, Jesus never used violence to force people to follow Him.  With the one exception we see where He drove out the merchants in the temple courtyard, Jesus did not use aggression, even when He was falsely accused, severely beaten, and unjustly crucified.

The next point Erwin makes is that children are not good at deceiving. This is quite obvious when you play hide and go seek with a little one.  They will go hide and then 2 seconds into the seeking, they will say, “Don’t look in the closet, I’m not in there!”  Children are also very open with their emotions.  When they are happy or sad or angry or hungry or tired, you know it.  Adults become very good at putting on a face.  They may be very angry and bitter but put on a happy face as though nothing is wrong.  Adults become very good at lying to or manipulating others to achieve an agenda.

The final point Erwin makes is that childrent are innocent. Children were not under the command of the law until a certain age of accountability. The idea that Jesus is making here is that we are innocent when we accept the forgiveness through Christ.  This is hard to accept for Christians because we have a hard time forgetting our sins.  We may say that we are forgiven and believe it in our minds but we constantly beat ourselves up over repented sins. We must truly accept our innocence once we receive God’s forgiveness through the blood of Christ.  That does not mean we can keep living in sin because God has forgiven us but we must accept that forgiveness, turn away from sin and live for God.