Remember those days when you were fearless? For some of you, that could have been early
in life, maybe before the age of 3. Others of you held onto your bravery well
into your teen years. No matter how long
you hang on, one thing is for certain, the insecurities of this world always
catch up with us.
I had four brothers and we were not afraid of much. I remember being about 8 years old and the 5
of us lined up on our roof. We all had
one plastic grocery bag in our hands, and, like smoke jumpers, we would hurl
ourselves off the roof with the full expectation that our recyclable grocery
bags would bare our young bodies as gravity pulled us downward. We were wrong, so we tried it again, this
time with two bags, and again with three bags, and again, and again.
Today, when I get the nerve to get on my roof (a step ladder
scares me at times, let alone getting on my roof), I’ll still jump down, but
only in sheer necessity (Like when the ladder falls over as I scurry to get on
the roof). Typically I get on my belly
as I dangle one leg over the edge, then the next, frantically searching for the
top step of my much too short 6 foot ladder.
When I get back on the ground, I am at peace again because the fear of
falling off the roof or ladder is over. That
is a far cry from 20 years ago when I would have done anything to get on the
roof of my house just to jump off it.
Reality has a funny way of revealing itself to us. The dangers in life are always there, but we
are born blind to them. Some of us, our
eyes are opened to the insecurities of this world much sooner than others, but
we all have to face them one day. We all
must pack our bags and fly (or scoot) away from the nest and find our own feet,
raise and provide for our own family; face troubles, disease and death on our
own.
We go from jumping off roofs to “there’s no way I am climbing
that ladder”. From cutting the neighbors
grass in order to buy the necessities of an 8 year olds life, skittles, to not
sleeping at night because you don’t know how you will pay your next electric
bill. From walking triumphantly into your fourth grade class with your first
broken arm to “what’s that mole on my neck?”
That’s life and I don’t blame you for it. But there is a benefit to approaching life
and approaching God as a child.
Read this interaction Jesus (God) had with some children in
Mark 10:1-16
And they were bringing
children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them (Why
did Jesus rebuke his disciples? Ultimately,
it is because the disciples’ fear got in the way of them. The disciples feared that Jesus would be
annoyed by being bombarded with a bunch of elementary kids. The disciples of God were afraid that Jesus had
better things to do than to play with kids.
They were afraid of what others would think of them and their cause if
they took time to interact with the children.
But the kids, they weren’t afraid at all. All the kids could see was that Jesus was a
cool dude who did awesome stuff [possibly even pulling a shekel out of the ear]
and some undoubtedly knew that he had come from God. They didn’t logically think about how busy
Jesus was, or that he might have more important things to do, they just ran up
to him, screaming in excitement like a child who hasn’t seen his grandpa in
months.) But when Jesus saw it (the
disciples rebuking the parents for bringing their kids), he was indignant (angry) and said to them, “Let the children
come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly,
I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child
shall not enter it.” And he took them in his arms and blessed
them, laying his hands on them.
God rebuked the fears of the disciples because their fears
had no substance to them. They were
thinking too much about the consequences of these children coming to Jesus
instead of allowing the kids to come and letting Jesus minister to them as he
wanted to.
Our fears will keep us from drawing close to Jesus. Like when Peter (walking on that water,
suddenly realizing the dangers around him) began to sink away from Jesus, we
too, when faced with the troubles of this world, have two choices. To lock in on Jesus and move towards him, or
stare at the waves of life and fret, sinking farther from Jesus. Thank God, He was the one who reached out and
grabbed Peter and not the other way around.
Peter was beyond himself to grab a hold of Jesus.
Is that where you are at today? Do you feel as if you are sinking? Cry out for help. Your God is walking on the waters with you,
and He will grab you.
Come back tomorrow to learn how we can become childlike
again in our thinking, but for today, maybe we just need to acknowledge the
things we do fear in life and offer them to God, telling him we don’t know what
to do with them.
