At that time the disciples came toJesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a little child to him, and placedthe child among them. And hesaid: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, youwill never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position ofthis child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my namewelcomes me.
Matthew 18:1-5 (NIV)
Brenda and Irecently had the opportunity to attend her great niece’s fifth birthday party,where we were blessed by the fact that the adults clearly outnumbered thefive-year olds. While I was observingthe somewhat contained chaos that ensued from a safe distance, I was stuck bythe pure enjoyment the kids were having just running around and screaming andbatting balloons.
These childrenweren’t worrying about going in to work the next day. They weren’t preoccupied with family problemsor watching their 401(k) tanking. Theydidn’t even care about the results of the football games that were inprogress. All they were thinking aboutwas running around and screaming and batting balloons. Did I mention the screaming?
How great wouldit be to be blessed with such an uncluttered mind? I’ll bet that sounds pretty appealing.
I think that isthe core of the text from Matthew 26, where the Lord tells us we should becomelike little children. When is the lasttime we approached Him with an uncluttered mind?
It’s hard, Iknow, and I’m as guilty as anyone. Myjob gives me responsibility for overseeing a team of 17 people, and it is rarethat I’m not thinking about something one of them did or needs to do or thatthey will be impacted by. I try to be agood husband, so I’m thinking about Brenda and things that affect her welfare alot. When I “relax,” I’m often thinkingabout my Ravens, Terps, and why my fantasy football quarterbacks are justkilling my team.
I have a hardtime clearing my mind when I come to the Lord, approaching Him like a smallchild (if only I had the same trouble acting childish). God is quite the gentleman; he generally won’tshout at us. More often, He is thatsmall, soft voice that can easily get drowned out by all of the noise in ourlives.
It’s our loss,but it disappoints Him also. God hasgone to a lot of trouble to build a relationship with us. After all, that’s one of the overarchingthemes of the Bible, from Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt to Jesus’ultimate sacrifice for us.
I don’t think ourLord spends time being angry with us. Ido think, however, that he misses us. You know how frustrating it is when you’re talking with someone whoreally isn’t paying attention? Kind ofhurts your feelings, doesn’t it? SinceGod made us in His image, isn’t it reasonable to think that when we come to himbut aren’t really focused that it hurts His feelings? I think it does.
Now while I doubtthe Lord wants us to approach Him with the attention span of a five-year old(although a lot of us already do), He does look for an uncluttered mind, onethat is receiving Him and only Him. Howcan we do that? Here are a couple of wordsI will focus on and encourage you to consider—priority and trust.
The urgency oflife realistically prevents us from consciously making God our priority every wakingminute, but I think it is critical that we intentionally set some time asideevery day to do just that. All rightGod, I’m turning off the TV, turning off my computer, turning off my phone, andtuning in to you. Pray out loud, readscripture, or just meditate on Him and listen to what He has to say, but let’smake sure to have some quality time with the Lord.
How can we turneverything off, something might happen we need to know about. How can I turn off all the noise in my mind,I have so much I need to be thinking about. Trust Him. Trust that the worldwill not figuratively come to an end while you’re not paying attention. Trust in the Lord that He has something tobless you with when you spend time with Him. Trust that He will show you a way to get things done, even when you’reoverwhelmed, after you take time out for Him.
God won’t shoutthrough the noise in our lives, but he will richly bless the quiet, unclutteredmind. We just need to bring it to Him.
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