This morning our daughter and I spoke about a key quality of man: Childlikeness. This quality is always fresh and new and speaks about beginnings. It is about courage, purity, joy, and simplicity. It is the quality that Jesus wanted to see in us:
“Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.” (Mark 10: 14, 15. NLT) Childlikeness is newness. It is our innate spirituality, and this spirituality is really simple - and always new. What's new? What should be new? I trust my guide book, the Bible: "... be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." A different translation is this: "Let the Spirit change your way of thinking and make you into a new person. You were created to be like God, and so you must please him and be truly holy." (Ephesians 4: 23/24, TNC) The childlikeness is the newness of life, and this newness is here. We are not trapped by "who we are" or "what we have become"---we are allowed only to take what a child can carry... Childlikeness has no time for lack of empathy, for pride, for egoistic pursuits, time-wasters, social loafing, gossiping and mentally focusing on things that might go wrong. There was an evening when I was a student, when I felt so overwhelmed by all the things I had to learn - too many character traits I didn't like anymore, too many obstacles. I wanted to be better. After hours of ruminating, feeling stuck and sorry for myself, laying on my back on my bed, the quiet voice of spiritual intuition called for a different view - and mentally I did go higher, like going up in a helicopter, leaving behind what I felt had no substance anymore. I stopped going through each single obstacle and realised that I am already what God made me to be. I felt suddenly that this is easy. It is so natural to be what Love, God, wants us to be. It is not difficult to be God's child. My frustration gave way to gratitude and the willingness to work for what I prayed for. My spirit, as the Bible would say, was renewed. So what's new this coming year? Instead of expecting something new from somewhere, let it be a new you. Let the child out. The new "new" is the real deal. The new is not the renovated old: It is original childlikeness. It is truly the new, truly genuine and authentic. It is pure luxury to discover our innate sense of dignity and freedom - and humility always leads the way, at least in my experience. Childishness with its lack of maturity and lack of commitment cannot block childlikeness. For our true "new self" already knows that it is childlike. Spirit is reported in the Bible (NLT, Rev. 2: 17) as saying: "And I will give to each one a white stone, and on the stone will be engraved a new name that no one understands except the one who receives it." |
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September 2024
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