I love it when children think theologically. It is so wonderfully concrete. They don't know they're thinking theologically. They are just analyzing life as they know with the truth as it has been taught to them. They try to explain (or have it explained) not to explain away. They could care less about the nuances of the Greek (it's all Greek to them) nor are they influence by any school of thought (they haven't yet been to school, or are still early in the experience.)
Adults have a way of complicating everything. They don't necessarily complicate by reflecting on the Greek and Hebrew. They complicate it by adding their experience to the interpretation. Yet so often in our fallen world, their experience isn't all that enlightening. Children are short on experience and in explaining the Truth of God, that may be an asset. They still believe God is worthy of our trust for "Jesus loves us, this we know, for the Bible tells us so." (And hopefully Mommy and Daddy have told them and the church has told them.)
Maybe that's the key to becoming the little child that is worthy of entrance into Kingdom. "The only thing that matters is faith expressing itself in love."(Galatians 5:6) A little child still believes the the promise - "Love never fails." They haven't let their experience in a fallen world rob them of their confidence in God's unfailing love.
"Unless you become like a little child, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven." - Mark 10:15
(C) 2011 by Stephen L Dunn
No comments:
Post a Comment