"OH, FOR THE WONDER OF A CHILD"

Good Evening to All!

Eugene Ionesco, who was one of the most important French playwrights in the 20th century quoted, "The end of childhood is when things cease to astonish us. When the world seems familiar, when one has got used to existence, one has become an adult.

When I read this my mind immediately redirected to the following scriptures:

Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. (4) Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:3-4

Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. Mark 10:15

Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein. Luke 18:17

We need to continually keep our spirits stirred up for God. We should constantly be reading and learning more about Him. The more we learn, the more excited we will be. We cannot afford to become complacent and "used to Him. We cannot take Him for granted, and expect Him to want us to live with Him in eternity.

God wants us to stay in awe of Him, and well we should. After all, He is so complex, there is no such thing as knowing "all" about Him. If we will allow Him and treat Him right, He will shower blessing upon blessing on us. He loves us SO MUCH, but He also expects love in return.

Back to the original quote and verses, just a child has COMPLETE faith and love for her daddy, so much that she believes everything he tells her, so much that she believes he can do anything, so should we believe and look at our Heavenly Father.

Mr. Ionesco's quote also made me think of my childhood days when I believed in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the tooth fairy. I looked forward to those days with great expectations of what would happen on those days to the point of being all giddy inside and not being able to sleep the night before. That is UNTIL my sister in her infinite wisdom informed me that these beings were all in my imagination, that actually it was my mother embellishing me with all of the presents under the tree, hiding the Easter eggs and candy and leaving that shiny quarter under my pillow in exchange for my tooth.

Needless to say with the mystery solved, the events, while still happy, were not as exciting because the mystery was lost, and the expectation was gone.

That is until I developed my serious relationship with God. I had always gone to church and Sunday School when I was young, but at that age, it was more of a "social event" for me. Don't get me wrong. I loved God, and I knew what He had done for me, but I didn't understand the meaning of an "intimate relationship" with Him. I had the understanding as long as I said I believed in Him and accepted Him as my Saviour and knew John 3:16, I was going to heaven.

Believe it or not I believed that pretty much (at a more advanced and mature level) UNTIL I was 46 years old! It was when I was baptized in Jesus' name and received the Holy Ghost that I KNEW something was different. I know you're probably wondering what all of this has to do with approaching God as a Child. That's just it. When a person first "wakes up" and realizes they want a serious relationship
with God, and gets filled with the Holy Ghost, they get a hunger for Him,. it's like we can't get enough knowledge about Him. Everything is why, why, why?! Just like a child does to the adults he is around so should we be to God our Father in Heaven. We need to believe in Him just like a child believes in his own earthly daddy. In a nurtured daddy and child relationship, the child has faith that his daddy will always be there for him and keep him safe. He never doubts that his daddy will let him go hungry or without clothes and always has his best interest at heart. They never doubt their daddy.

We should look at God the same way. We should look at Him with child-like wonder in our eyes and hearts. Our earthly parents will eventually have to let us down at one time or another because they are human.
And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.
God is omnipotent (all powerful), omniscient (all knowing) and omnipresent (everywhere).

Mark 10:27 tells us "And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.

Do me a favor. Tonight or tomorrow, do some inner searching. How do you look at God? Do you look at Him with a child-like faith, believing He can do anything and has your best interest at heart? Do you love Him enough to abide by His Word, (not just the Ten Commandments, but HIS WHOLE unabridged Word)? OR do you look at Him as a distant God that as long as you do right and don't lie, cheat, steal or hurt anyone, that you are a good person and that constitutes having a good relationship with Him and it will get you into Heaven?

Please, just look at this as Food For Thought. I am not a Pastor, and I do not claim to be a teacher. These are just questions that came up in my mind when I read that beginning quote, so I thought I would include y'all in my thought process.

Below are the answers to last night's Bible Challenge "Sins and Sinners"

1. a) brimstone and fire rained from heaven. (Genesis 19:24)
2. d) Gibeah (Judges 19)
3. b) calf (Exodus 32:1-4)
4. a) Amnon (2 Samuel 3:2, 2 Samuel 13:1-33)
5. b) Nathan (2 Samuel 12:1-10)
6. d) Naboth (1 Kings 21:1-16)
7. c) Isaiah (Isaiah 43:27)
8. a) his brother's wife (Matthew 14;3, Mark 6:17-18)
9. c) Herod's niece (Matthew 14:3-11)
10. c) adultery with the sinner's mother-in-law (1 Corinthians 5:1)

Good Night to All and May God Bless!