Faith of a Child

Matthew 19:14 But Jesus said, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these.” And he put his hands on their heads and blessed them before he left.

I spoke at a small church in Forbes Minnesota this past Sunday and I was blessed to meet a young boy named Herald. At the end of the service his mother walked up to me and told me that for the last 40 minutes I had her 8 year old’s sons attention. He was listening to my message and throughout the message he was asking her questions.
One of my points that day was that we have to bring the name of Jesus into our everyday conversations, a friend of mine had once told me that we all have a box of things we talk about when we are with certain people in our lives. When we get together we take about things in that box, whether it be sports, work, world events, politics. If something is not in that box of comfortable conversations we hesitate to bring it in. So I said, “We have to bring Jesus into the box!” His mother told me how Herald then asked her, “How do we put Jesus in a box?”  I met up with Herald and his parents outside the church about 10 minutes later and I told them I was  pondering Heralds question. I said it’s great how children aren’t afraid to stop you and ask questions, “Wait how do you do that? What do you mean? How can you put Jesus in a box? Herald’s dad then told me how he has a hard time bringing Jesus into his conversations. This lead to a great conversation about sharing the gospel with the people we know. Heralds dad had the same question as Herald, he just didn’t ask it.

I spoke at another church and my topic was the faith and obedience of Joseph, the husband of Mary. I quoted Matthew 2:13 “After the wise men were gone and angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. Get up and flee to Egypt with the child and his mother, the angel said. That night Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary, his mother.” I asked the congregation how many of us would pack up leave everything we know and just go? I young girl raised her had and said, “I would.”

Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Children take us at our word, they take God at his word. Jesus says go and they want to go. Jesus says share my good news and they want to share his good news. My daughter was in fourth grade  and she was concerned her friend was going to go to hell so she shared with her friend about Jesus. She called me up that night and told me about their conversation.  A friend just shared with me how his two young sons will ask relatives or friends, “Why don’t you believe in God? They take God at his word, they cannot fathom why others do not.

The Gospel is a simple message children take it at face value and believe. The question is, do we?

Dry Bones

Ezekiel 37:1-5 The Lord took hold of me, and I was carried away by the Spirit of the Lord to a valley filled with bones. He led me all around among the bones that covered the valley floor. They were scattered everywhere across the ground and were completely dried out. Then he asked me, “Son of man, can these bones become living people again?”

“O Sovereign Lord,” I replied, “you alone know the answer to that. Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to these bones and say, ‘Dry bones, listen to the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again! I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”

I recently spent a day on the Brule River with my nephew. When we were getting ready to launch the kayaks he showed me a tattoo he just had done on his arm. It was not yet complete because he told me it was all the pain he could handle at one time. As we were paddling down the river he told me of the meaning behind the tattoo. A bottle of booze and a skull representing death. Stars representing the party scene. A pirate ship just because it looks cool and to be added next a cross with the word life.  “I have the same problem as my dad. I can’t handle drinking and this tattoo is to remind me where drinking and parting will lead me,” he said. The rest of the trip we talked of life and a little about the Lord.

 We had an awesome time on the river that day, the water was high and the rapids were exciting. We were able to enjoy the beauty that God has created. Yet for the next couple of days I kept thinking of the statement my nephew was making with his tattoo. I knew I wanted to write this article about him. As I started reading my bible this morning the first chapter I read was Ezekiel 37, I read through verse 14 and suddenly I realized I had just read what my nephew has tattooed on his arm, not with words but with pictures. I am sure he has never read this verse yet God gave him this vision.  A skull,
dead dried bones , people dead in their sins. The cross with the word, Life. I felt blessed and encouraged to know that my nephew recognizes that many of the things of this world, (sin) lead to death. That he knows that Jesus represents life through what he did on the cross. Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”