The disciples of Jesus once came to him with the question, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 18: 1)? As often was the case, the response of the Saviour must have stunned them, for it was not at all the way men would have had it! He put a little child before them, and in a word, told them if they would be great, they must be"... as this little child" (v. 4).

Now to be a disciple meant responsi­bility; one cannot follow Christ with­out learning certain things, for that, among other things, is what a disciple is - a "learner" and "follower." Yet there is a difference in a little child and a disciple in one way. We need to hear this clearly - what little children are naturally, disciples must learn! Note that Jesus said that a disciple is one who will "become as little chil­dren," and here is our problem - we often want discipleship without be­coming other than what we are!

Have you ever wondered why little children are what they are? They don't seem to have any problem with it, do they? The reason is that it is simply within the nature of a little child to be what he is - he has not yet learned to be something else. Let's look at some marks of a little child, and see how we measure up.

A little child is dependent upon his parents. He has no choice in the matter - that is just the way it is. Any other route and he would starve and face all sorts of dangers. If God is to be our Father, we must learn to % pend upon him. This is not to say we do not face responsibilities, for surely we do. Yet there are things which we simply cannot do for ourselves, any more than Noah could have depended on himself to be saved from the flood, or Moses could have led Israel from Egypt without the help of God. To put it bluntly, we need God!

A little child is obedient to parents. There is something seriously wrong when parents do not e demand obedi­ence from their children. This obedi­ence, says Paul, should be there simply because "this is right" (Eph. 6:1). A child will willingly comply with parental demands - if he is started down that path early and consistently enough. Have we learned obedience like we should? Jesus learned it (Lk.. 2:51; Heb. 5:8-9). Why don't most people obey God? Because they have not been taught that this is the right and best way to live.

Little children, for the most part, are paragons of humility. Properly reared children humbly relate to parents in ways that are profitable to all. It is most refreshing to find a young person who wants some guidance, and is fully aware of his immaturity. God also demands humility of his disciples (Mic. 6:8; Jas. 4:10), and yet we often have the hardest time learning this.

Little children know how to forgive. Who has not witnessed two s who suddenly have a serious dis­agreement? They may be angry for a short time, but the anger is soon gone, they forgive and forget and all differ­ences have been resolved and are gone as if by magic! Paul said, "in malice be ye children" (l Cor. 14:20). How much more pleasant relationships with others would be if we could develop the "forgive and forget" mentality that seems to characterize most children! Whereas most children just seem to have this quality, as disciples of Christ it is something we must learn. How are we doing along this line?

Little children are ideals of purity. Their thoughts, actions and motives are free from the impurities of life. Their lives hold no malice or ill will. To look at a small child sets before our eyes what God would want all men to be as regards purity in the life. And so we need to learn to be pure. Paul told Timothy to "keep thyself pure" (f Tim. 5:22). Those whose lives are pure are not "conformed to this world" ( Rom. 12:1-2). The things of this world are anymore mostly the epitome of impurity, and must be put out of the life. Finally, children often have a strong desire to go home. Have you ever taken your children on a long trip, and they begin to question you, "when will we be home?" Or, "how much farther is it to home?" As Christians, we need to develop that same desire, for this world is not our home. We are strangers and pilgrims here at best (1 Pet. 2:11). It is tragic to see a Chris­tian settle down in this world and make no effort to go any farther. And so as God's children, we must develop the desire to "go home;" to heaven that awaits us.

Have we learned to be, as Jesus said, "... as this little child?" I hope so. - Bill Moseley

 

 

 

The rural church, made up of nothing but "country folks," could not keep a preacher. Here one would come, stay a couple of months and was gone. Be­lieve it or not, that was the pattern for several years. Finally, a fellow came and was still there three years later. Somebody asked one of the members, an old farmer, how come this last fel­low stayed when all the others didn't. "Wal, you see," he drawled, "we really don't want no preacher a'tall here, and he's the closest we ever come to it - so we jest let'im stay."

Now if you've been preaching for awhile in the same place, that sort of makes you "sit up and take notice." Kind of makes you wonder why you're still there! Personally, I never could figure out these preachers who move every year or two, but maybe they are afraid the brethren will think they are "next to nuthin" if they stay awhile. Or it may be in some cases they just "run out of soap" as the old saying goes, and have to run some­where else to make it lather again. If that's the case, sounds to me like somebody is not studying like they ought to.

Its going on seven years now, and I happened to think about this story. Do me a favor will you? Humor me and don't tell me why I'm still here - I will just dream and hope its for the right reason! – Bill Moseley