Category Archives: Matthew

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Christ-unlikeness

Don’t Be One Who Says, “I Will Go” But Never Does

Jesus’s Parable of the Vineyard is about the invitation to enter God’s will. And the will of the Father is for people to be conformed to the image of Christ. That’s the work of God in the world today: transforming your heart and mine into the likeness of Jesus. And that work is most needed precisely in the our where we are most unlike Christ. Where is that for you? Don’t neglect the Father’s urgent invitation to join him in his work there.

The Journey: Matthew 21:28-31

Jesus said to the religious leaders, “But what do you think about this? A man with two sons told the older boy, ‘Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.’ The son answered, ‘No, I won’t go,’ but later he changed his mind and went anyway. Then the father told the other son, ‘You go,’ and he said, ‘Yes, sir, I will.’ But he didn’t go. Which of the two obeyed his father?”

Jesus was talking to priests and elders about submitting to the work of God, but they were resisting, while unlikely tax collectors and prostitutes were embracing it. The Jewish leaders were unwilling to open their hearts to God, and they were jealous of Jesus—the miracles he was performing, the crowds he was garnering, the authority with which he was preaching—so much so, that a few days later, they would have him crucified.

Jesus knew all of this, so to expose their hardness of heart and yet one more time, gave them a chance to respond to the work of God, he told them a parable about two sons—one who was a problem at breakfast but a delight at dinner, and one who was compliant at breakfast but absent at supper.

Then Jesus makes a very clear application in verse 31. He asked which of the two sons did the will of his Father: The one who looked the right way and said the right things, but never really changed, or the one who seemed to be so way off track but at the end of the day responded to the Father’s will?

What Jesus was saying to the priest and leaders, and to you and me by extension, was that what matters is where you are when suppertime comes. You see, this parable isn’t about your intentions at breakfast, it’s about your actions at dinner. This is a supper story, not a breakfast parable. Jesus is talking about the invitation to enter God’s vineyard, which is a metaphorical way of talking about responding to the will of the Father. And the will of the Father is for people to be conformed to the image of Christ. That’s the work of God in the world today: Transforming your heart and mine into the likeness of Jesus.

What about you—are you a “breakfast boy” or are you a “suppertime son”? If you were to honestly apply this to your own life, are you saying “yes” to the vineyard—the work of God in your life—but never really following through on it? Or are you, even if you have so very far to go in the process of transformation, submitting your life to the Lord’s vineyard? In what ways are you looking more like Christ and in what areas do you still need to get into God’s vineyard?

Where are you unlike Christ? That’s where the work of the vineyard needs to take place as a priority. Robert Mulholland pointedly says, “The process of being conformed to the image of Christ, doing the will of the father, takes place primarily at the point of our unlikeness to Christ’s image.” Most of us have areas that need to be brought into the vineyard: our temper, our tongue, our thought life, our attitude…pieces of our lives that still don’t look like Jesus. We’ve set around the breakfast table and said, “you know, I better get into the vineyard in that area,” but we never really seem to make it there.

Changing to the image of Christ usually involves physical practices called spiritual disciplines—things we must do consistently over time that allows us to take on the character of Christ. If the Holy Spirit is prompting you say yes to God’s vineyard today, what does that mean? What action do you need to take? What spiritual practices do you need to begin? Write down that spiritual discipline you need to engage, share it with a friend, and get into the vineyard. Don’t be one who says, “I will go” but never gets there.

Jesus is inviting us to get into the vineyard, no matter what stage we’re at in the game, so that when suppertime comes, you and I will have submitted to what the Father wanted to do in our lives. There is a sense of urgency to this story; dinner is just about ready! So push back from the breakfast table and get into the transforming work of the Holy Spirit in those areas where you don’t look like Jesus?

A Simple Prayer To Be More Like Jesus:

God, my life is yours. My desire is that through me—body, emotions, intellect, relationship, abilities—I would honor you with every last ounce of my being. Take me over and make me into the image of your Son.
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Good and Angry

Don’t Be Mistaken, Jesus Was No Pushover

B.B. Warfield wrote, “A man who cannot be angry, cannot be merciful.” The person who cannot be angry at things which thwart God’s purposes and God’s love toward people is living too far away from his fellow men ever to feel anything positive towards them. Perhaps it’s time, like Jesus, to stay good but get angry over the things that prevent the goodness of God from reaching people.

The Journey: Matthew 21:12-13

Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out all the people buying and selling animals for sacrifice. He knocked over the tables of the moneychangers and the chairs of those selling doves. He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves!”

Jesus was angry—so much so that he literally tossed a few people out of the church! Now that image may totally blow the picture you have of the Lord as the “Gentle Shepherd”. I hope so! There were times that Jesus was good and angry—and not to be so would have been un-God like.

To be sure, Jesus loved people, and that love especially came through in his compassion for the poor, widows and orphans, the sick and infirmed, and those who were held captive to sin by Satan. He was a man of love and peace who called people to a lifestyle of love and peace. But Jesus was no pushover. He had a large capacity for anger—righteous indignation—as we see here in this encounter with the moneychangers at the temple. Jesus didn’t go around picking fights, but when he saw injustice, it really ticked him off.

What pushed his button in particular was seeing how religious authorities would turn what should have been the worship of God into a way to manipulate people for their own purposes. It bothered him a great deal when spiritual directors stood in the way of the kindness of God reaching people in need, and when religious systems abused and enslaved people instead of ushering them into the abundance of God.

J. I. Packer, in his book, Your Father Loves You, writes of the many times Jesus’ anger flared at this sort of thing:

Jesus went into the synagogue on the Sabbath and saw a man with a crippled hand. He knew that the Pharisees were watching to see what he would do, and he felt angry that they were only out to put him in the wrong. They did not care a scrap for the handicapped man, nor did they want to see the power and love of God brought to bear on him. There were other instances where Jesus showed anger or sternness. He “sternly charged” the leper whom he had healed not to tell anyone about it (Mark 1:43) because he foresaw the problems of being pursued by a huge crowd of thoughtless people who were interested only in seeing miracles and not in his teaching. But the leper disobeyed and so made things very hard for Jesus. Jesus showed anger again when the disciples tried to send away the mothers and their children (Mark 10:13-16). He was indignant and distressed at the way the disciples were thwarting his loving purposes and giving the impression that he did not have time for ordinary people. He showed anger once more when he drove “out those who sold and those who bought in the temple” (Mark 11:15-17). God’s house of prayer was being made into a den of thieves and God was not being glorified—hence Jesus’ angry words and deeds. Commenting on this, Warfield wrote: “A man who cannot be angry, cannot be merciful.” The person who cannot be angry at things which thwart God’s purposes and God’s love toward people is living too far away from his fellow men ever to feel anything positive towards them. Finally, at Lazarus’ grave Jesus showed not just sympathy and deep distress for the mourners (John 11:33-35), but also a sense of angry outrage at the monstrosity of death in God’s world. This is the meaning of “deeply moved” in John 11:38.

Any form of spiritual manipulation, control, abuse or neglect that prevents the goodness of God from reaching people, no matter what form it takes, or who is perpetrating it, doesn’t make Jesus very happy. Not then…and not now.

Religious leaders, televangelists, youth directors, or anyone who has spiritual influence over others, and use that influence for their own financial gain, to garner name recognition, for sexual gratification, to feed their own hunger for power, or who deliberately prevent God’s abundance from reaching his children, will sooner or later have to stand before a righteous Jesus. And as we just saw, the real Jesus is perfectly capable of anger. One day there will be an accounting for the mismanagement of spiritual authority—and it won’t be pretty.

Jesus, the Gentle Shepherd, the Prince of Peace, got good and angry over a few things. Maybe it is high time Christ followers got a little fed up with sin as well.

So if it is called for, go ahead and get angry. Just make sure you are good—literally—and angry.

A Simple Prayer To Be More Like Jesus:

God, teach me to be angry at the things which anger you, but stay good, as you always are. Touch my heart with that which touches your heart..
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Stooping To Greatness

The Apostle Paul taught that if we have grasped the love of God and the grace of our Lord Jesus and the work of the Spirit in the least, then we will understand that at the very least, our duty is to think like Jesus thought, to serve like Jesus served, and to live as Jesus would if he were living in our place. And since Jesus came to serve, not to be served, then to give his life away, that means our calling is to likewise give ourselves away by serving others.

The Journey: Matthew 20:26-28

But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Servanthood. Now that’s not something you hear every day from the CEO of a major corporation. It is not likely you will hear your boss say that the way to the top is by humbling yourself and giving your life as the servant of all. You will probably get a half dozen slick promotional pieces in the mail this week inviting you to a spendy leadership conference, but my guess is that not a single one will be promoting servanthood as the key feature.

Yet that is the upside-down logic of the Kingdom of God. Jesus said the surest way to greatness is by way of descent—you’ve got to lower yourself into it. And that’s not something Jesus just preached; it’s what he practiced. Serving was the core value of his very existence and the primary purpose of his coming, according to Matthew 20:28,

For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Jesus understood, modeled and taught that greatness, as well as a whole host of other Kingdom values, came only by authentic humility and willing servanthood. C.S. Lewis described it this way: “Jesus descends to re-ascend.” Paul, in Philippians 2:5-11, said,

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Paul says the secret to spiritual authenticity and Christian greatness is to adopt the attitude of Jesus; to make his mindset our mindset. Verse 5 says, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus…” What was that mindset? Verse 7 says Jesus “made himself nothing.” Literally, when he left heaven and was born into humanity, he emptied himself.

Emptied himself of what? Not of his Divine identity, of course. Jesus the man was always God. Take his deity away and our faith is no more useful than any other religion. What Jesus set aside was his divine prerogatives. He lowered himself to human status. And if that weren’t low enough, he descended further into the role of servant to all mankind. Really, the term “servant” is too clean! He literally became a bond-slave: one without rights or privileges of his own.

This amazing Jesus who crafted the solar systems with ease, stooped to learn a trade in his father’s carpentry shop. The Sovereign Lord whom all creation worships donned a servant’s towel, stooping to wash the feet of those who should have washed his. This incredible Jesus, ruler of all mankind, stooped to the humiliation of the cross to pay for sins that should have nailed you and me there! He emptied himself of his Divine prerogatives to become a slave to redeem us from our slavery to sin and death.

So Paul says that if we have grasped the love of God and the grace of our Lord Jesus and the work of the Spirit in the least, then we will understand that at the very least, our duty is to think like Jesus thought, to serve like Jesus served, and to live as Jesus would if he were living in our place.

Jesus came to serve, not to be served, and to give his life away. That is your call, too.

It is said that a western tourist visiting India observed Mother Teresa stoop down and hold a dying leper in her arms. The tourist disgustedly commented, “I wouldn’t do that for a million dollars!”

Mother Teresa looked up at the visitor and said, “Neither would I.”

That kind of stooping servanthood is eternally celebrated by heaven and is the pathway to greatness in God’s Kingdom.

I hope you will make the descent into greatness this week!

Happy stooping!

A Simple Prayer To Be More Like Jesus:

God, make me like your Son. He was a servant, so make me one, too. Lord I am willing. Do what you must do, to make me like Jesus—the servant of all.
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The Whole Enchilada

Aren’t You Glad For 11th Hour Grace

Who gets to be in God’s kingdom? Everyone—anyone who accepts Jesus’ offer, that’s who! That includes all kinds of sinful people who took Jesus up on this offer: prostitutes, tax collectors and even Gentiles. They came in at the 11th hour and are still getting the whole enchilada. That’s your story, too. You got the whole grace enchilada when you didn’t even deserve a nibble of the beans and rice—so be grateful. Be very grateful!

The Journey: Matthew 20:16

Jesus said, “So those who are last now will be first then, and those who are first will be last.”

On its face, the Parable of the Vineyard in Matthew 20:1-16 has to be one of the most unfair stories in the Bible. Come on—people who come to work just before quitting time and get paid the same as those who’ve put in a full day! You’ve to be kidding! Since Jesus told parables to illustrate the Kingdom of God, how in the world does this story represent the Father’s righteous rule?

In this story, a landowner goes to the marketplace to hire temps at the beginning of the work day—a 12-hour day that began at 6:00 AM—and contracts with the most suitable looking workers: a day’s work for a day’s wage—one denarius. Then, still needing help, he goes back at 9:00 AM, again at noon and at 3:00 PM to get more workers. Each additional time, however, there is no contract; he just says he’ll pay them whatever is right. Finally, at the 11th hour—at 5:00 PM—he goes back and sees a few more workers hanging around. Now you’ve got to ask why haven’t they been hired yet…and how come they’re still here? Waiting to get hired with one hour left in the day is kind of like showing up at a Pumpkin Patch the day after Halloween looking for work. Obviously, these guys are not your Stanford MBA types; they’re not the most employable people at the temp service. But help is needed, so they’re hired.

Then the owner blows them all away at the end of the workday by paying all the workers the same: One denarius—a full days wage! Imagine the surprise of the 11th hour workers when they realize they’ve just been paid the same as the all-day guys. I can imagine one of them saying, “We didn’t really deserve this. Let’s get out of here before the payroll people realize their mistake and ask for the money back.” And the all-day workers—man, are they mad at the ridiculous generosity of the owner!

So what is Jesus getting at in this parable? To begin with, understand that this is not a story about how corporations should draft compensation policy, so don’t get hung up over that. As a general rule, people who work 12 hours should get paid more than people who work 1 hour. Operate your HR department like this landowner and you’ll soon be out of business.

What Jesus is doing here is picturing the kingdom for us: Undeserving, unlikely desperate people trusting in the generosity of God to include them in his vineyard. The vineyard is a metaphor about coming into God’s kingdom, through Jesus. Who gets to be in God’s kingdom? Everyone—anyone who accepts Jesus’ offer, that’s who! And all kinds of sinful people are taking Jesus up on this offer: Prostitutes, tax collectors and even Gentiles. They’re coming in at the 11th hour and still getting the whole denarius.

But the pious Jews who’ve been in the vineyard all day long aren’t happy about this. They can’t grasp this thing called grace that Jesus is revealing; it’s nothing less than scandalous to them.

Now here is one of the things I’d like for you to consider in this story: You are an 11th hour person—me, too—but the longer we’re in the kingdom, the more we become like the all-day people. Every time someone new comes into the vineyard, they become the 11th hour worker and we move back down the line to 9th hour workers, to noon people, to the 9 AM crowd, until finally, we are sitting with the all-day folks. And the real danger we face is taking on the attitude of these all-day workers.

As we move along in our walk with Jesus, we are either moving into what we might call performance-based Christianity, or we’re moving toward grace-based faith. Performance-based people believe they deserve a full day’s pay based on what they do. They act as if God is getting a good deal in getting them; that he couldn’t run his vineyard without them. But grace-based believers understand they did nothing except to show up and accept God’s offer. Their entire relationship with God is based on trust in his ridiculous generosity and gracious character.

Don’t slide into an all-day spirit. Rather—perhaps you should do this on a regular basis—simply recount the gracious goodness of God that invited you into his vineyard when you did nothing to deserve it at all. Take a moment to absorb what Philip Yancey wrote so insightfully about this in his book, What’s So Amazing About Grace:

Many Christians who study this parable identify with the employees who put in a full day’s work rather than with the add-ons at the end of the day. We like to think of ourselves as responsible workers, and the employer’s strange behavior baffles us as it did the original hearers. But we risk missing the story’s point: that God dispenses gifts, not wages. None of us gets paid according to merit like these early workers, none of us, for none of us comes close to satisfying God’s requirement for a perfect life. If paid on the basis of merit, we would all end up in hell.

God dispenses gifts, not wages! Good point—none of us gets paid according to merit.

And aren’t you glad for that! Listen, friend, you got the whole grace enchilada when you didn’t even deserve a nibble of the beans and rice—so be grateful. Be very grateful!

A Simple Prayer To Be More Like Jesus:

God, thank you for saving me. I didn’t deserve it, but by your grace you brought me your eternal kingdom and paid me a full wage. For that, I will be eternally grateful.
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What’s In It For Me?

Far More Than You Could Ever Imagine

Rewards are part and parcel of the Kingdom Life. So don’t be afraid to think about them once in a while—or a lot. Believe me, what you might think God has in store for your faithful service to him is far less than you could ever imagine. God has some big plans for you!

The Journey: Matthew 19:27-29

Then Peter said to him, “We’ve given up everything to follow you. What will we get?” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife[e] or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.”

Most of us think about it, few of us ever express it. I am talking about rewards. For some reason, in the church world we think it is somehow unspiritual to bring up the idea of recognition and compensation in this life and the one to come for the things we’ve done in service for our Lord. It seems, well, unseemly. It’s poor form. It reveals ulterior, perhaps even dark motives to dare talk about what we might get out of the following Jesus deal.

But the thing is, we are actually being more “spiritual” than Jesus when we suppress what is simply a God-given impulse to expect to be rewarded for doing what is good and right. Of course, doing things only for what I might get out of it rather than a motive of love and gratitude for what has been undeservedly done for me is never a good thing. With that said, let’s just acknowledge once and for all that Jesus talked openly and frequently about the benefits and blessings that would come our way for doing the right thing.

When Peter asked, in essence, “Hey Jesus, we’ve done quite a bit for you. So what’s in it for us?”, Jesus didn’t rebuke him. There were other times Peter’s speak-before-you-think outbursts drew the Master’s ire, but not this time. Instead, Jesus gave him an immediate answer:

Yes, you have followed me. In the re-creation of the world, when the Son of Man will rule gloriously, you who have followed me will also rule, starting with the twelve tribes of Israel. And not only you, but anyone who sacrifices home, family, fields—whatever—because of me will get it all back a hundred times over, not to mention the considerable bonus of eternal life. This is the Great Reversal: many of the first ending up last, and the last first. (Matthew 19:28-30, MSG)

Rewards are part and parcel of the Kingdom Life. So don’t be afraid to think about them once in a while—or a lot. Believe me, what you might think God has in store for your faithful service to him is far less than you could ever imagine. God has some big plans for you!

Now there are just a couple of caveats to keep in mind as you dream: First, the rewards Jesus talked about were rarely ever expressed in terms of material things. And that should be no surprise. Material things are temporal, so don’t spend too much time dreaming about stuff that will only end up in a garage sale, or in the junk heap or in the dustbin of history.

Second, remember that the greatest reward comes to those who are not seeking it. If you are seeking it, chances are you think you deserve it, that you can earn it. That is sort of the accountant’s approach to Christianity—checking off your debits and credits. But the greatest reward comes to those whose efforts are simply to pay back the un-repayable and insurmountable debt of love they owe to a gracious and merciful Redeemer.

Of course, that brings up the paradox of Christian reward: Jesus talked about it enough that we ought to have the freedom to talk about it too, but those who are in love with Jesus are in deep debt, so the idea of reward rarely, if ever, enters their minds. As William Barclay said,

If men and women all their lives have sought to walk with God, if they have sought to obey their Lord, if goodness has been their quest through all their days, then throughout their lives they have been growing closer and closer to God, until in the end they pass into God’s nearer presence, without fear and with radiant joy—that is the greatest reward of all.

A Simple Prayer To Be More Like Jesus:

God, simply knowing you is the greatest reward I could ever hope for. Thank you for the privilege of being brought close to you and held in your arms as a treasured child. Thank you for the blood of your Son Jesus Christ who made it all possible. I will forever be grateful. Anything beyond that is simply icing on the cake.
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Conflict Resolution

Not Everything That Offends Us Is Sin

In this age of outrage, as Christ followers, we must remember that everything that personally offends us doesn’t’ always rise to the level of sin or moral offense. More likely, we were simply irritated by a behavior, or our expectations were disappointed. And while resolving conflict is a necessary process for harmony within God’s family, perhaps a first step that we ought to get good at would be to simply grow thicker skin.

The Journey: Matthew 18:15

If another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offense. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back.

Jesus understood that one of the greatest threats to the Kingdom Life would be disharmony in the family of God. Conflicts between brothers and sisters in Christ could potentially derail God’s purposes in the local fellowship and give Satan the upper hand if they weren’t handled properly. Puritan preacher Richard Baxter observed,

He that is not a son of Peace is not a son of God. All other sins destroy the Church consequentially; but Division and Separation demolish it directly.

So Jesus provided his twelve disciples—and by extension, his followers in every age, including you and me—a template for conflict resolution.

To resolve a conflict with a God-honoring outcome, the most foundational and critical principle that must be followed comes from the first part of Christ’s words: “If a brother sins against you.” The offended party must assess whether the offense was truly a sin, or if it was simply an act that irritated or violated their personal preferences.

In my experience facilitating conflict resolution over the years, much of what people find offensive never rises to the level of a sin that needs to be confronted. In these cases, the offended party was, in reality, the culprit, and simply needed to grow thicker skin, develop greater tolerance, and/or learn to more effectively communicate their upset with the offender with grace and love.

Another essential to conflict resolution, once it has been determined that the offense was indeed the result of a sin, is to address the issue privately, just between the two parties. Too many people are quick to jump past this hoop and go right to group involvement. If you have not first addressed your hurt with the offender, do not take it to others and try to get them on your side. God will not honor that kind of action, and it will not produce reconciliation.

Jesus does provide a clause by which others should be drawn into the dispute in verses 16-20: If the sinning party won’t listen to you. That is when others may need to be brought in to mediate and reconcile the offense. These participants should be godly and objective representatives of Christ’s church (not necessarily church officials—simply mature, respectable Christians). Christ himself has placed his mantle of authority on this group to settle the dispute and if needs be, administer discipline to an unrepentant brother or sister—discipline that will stand up even in the courts of heaven.

A final essential to conflict resolution is that the desired outcome is to be restoration. Jesus said, “If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back.” Unfortunately, some people believe that getting what they want is the goal. It is not. Resolving the dispute, forgiving the offense, restoring the relationship, and preserving the harmony of the church is the outcome most honoring to God.

Conflict is an unavoidable fact of life—in general and in the family of God. It can either be a cause for fractured relationships and deep hurt, or it can be an opportunity for personal, relational growth, spiritual and Kingdom growth.

Though not always easy, if we simply follow Christ’s template for conflict resolution, we will experience the latter.

A Simple Prayer To Be More Like Jesus:

God, give me the courage to confront others when they have sinned against me, the wisdom to do it biblically, and the grace to overlook it when that is what would please you.
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Be A Big Baby!

Childlike Trust Is The Best Gift We Give To God

Eternal life is the gift God gives to his children; complete trust is the gift God’s children give back to him. So precious to God is our childlike trust that he sent Jesus to die to make it possible.

The Journey: Matthew 18:1-4

The disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?” Jesus called a little child to him and put the child among them. Then he said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.”

At some point in our developing years, most of us heard the parental admonition, “quit acting like a child.” We were sometimes derisively chided, “you’re being a big baby!” We were told to “grow up and act our age!” The Bible even gets in on the act, telling us to put away childish things (1 Corinthians 13:11), to stop thinking like children (1 Corinthians 14:20), to grow out of the instability of our emotional/spiritual infancy (Ephesians 4:14).

Yet here Jesus tells us that the people who are the greatest in his Father’s kingdom are those who become like little children. Obviously, we’ve heard that before, and I’m sure most of us think we get what Jesus is saying, but have we really stopped to think about those childlike qualities exhibited in the faith, character and life of a believer that cause Father God to sit up and take notice? It would be easy to simply pass by this familiar passage without giving it much thought, but let’s take a moment before we move on to consider what it is about little kids that not only makes them, but anyone who embodies those very characteristics, so precious to God.

First, Jesus mentions repentance: “Unless you turn from your sins and become like little children you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven.” It is typical of children to recognize their own “childishness”, and along with that recognition is an innate sense that change is desperately needed, correction is helpful (though not always appreciated), and a new course is required if maturity is to take place. The starting point in God’s Kingdom is acknowledgment of our sinfulness, sorrow for our offensiveness to a holy God, and our willingness to change the whole orientation of our life by walking in a way that is pleasing to the One who created us to glorify him by our very existence. Jesus declares that this attitude of repentance—not just the act, but an attitude of repentance—is both a childlike quality and a necessary condition for entrance into the Kingdom Life as well as growth in it.

Second, Jesus speaks about humility: “Anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.” Many helpful definitions of humility have been offered, but the kind of humility a child naturally exhibits is simply one that recognizes his or her utter dependence on the parent for day-by-day sustenance, guidance and protection—for life itself. Jesus says that those who know their utter helplessness and their total moment-by-moment dependence on the Father are on their way to greatness in his eyes.

Third, Jesus talks about trust: “If you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to have a large millstone tied around your neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea.” (Matthew 18:6) Perhaps the most endearing quality of a child is a fully devoted trust in their parent. So precious is a child’s trust to God that he reserves his worst punishment for adults who damage it in children. And so precious to God is the trust of his spiritual children that Jesus died to make it possible. Eternal life is the gift God gives to his children; complete trust is the gift God’s children give back to him.

Do you desire to be great in God’s eyes? I do. If you do, then join me today in offering him our childlike faith. Nurture a repentant spirit, cultivate authentic humility, and wrap up your trust and give it as a gift to the Father who gave you your very life. According to Jesus, his Father will think it’s great. He’ll think you’re great, too!

A Simple Prayer To Be More Like Jesus:

God, give me a childlike trust. Help me to uncomplicate my faith so that I can return a total moment-by-moment, delightful dependence on you.