Grains of Sand

Pixabay The Gospel and the young. However you define the “children” Jesus refers to in Matthew 18:1-14, the result is the same—don’t cause the young to stumble in their faith, or else! Jesus was responding to a question put to Him by His disciples: “ Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? ” (18:1) Considering some of the other discussions they had among themselves I suspect they wanted Jesus to affirm that they, for the sacrifice of following Him, qualified for the position. Instead Jesus takes a young child and uses the simplicity and fervour of a child’s faith as an illustration of who will be the greatest in the kingdom. That provides a launch pad for this: “ But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea ” (18:6). Yikes! This leads to an even more graphic description of what is necessary to protect the budding faith of the young. ...

Pixabay Let the baby die. It would have been safer. Who knows what the punishment might have been for anyone trying to hide a child from nosy neighbours bent on carrying out the Pharaoh’s edit to destroy all the Hebrew male newborns? (Exodus 1:22) It would have been less stressful. I read this morning in an advice column about a mother who wondered what nice thing she could do for her neighbours to compensate them for the many sleepless nights they might have suffered listening to her crying child through the thin walls of their townhouse. Babies cry. Under normal circumstances that is stressful enough. But when the child’s life depends on silence, the stress levels rise exponentially. It would have been more convenient. After all these two parents already had two children. Another mouth to feed under slavery conditions—especially under these dangerous conditions—would make any parents wonder about the wisdom of trying to keep this child. But Jochebed and Amram, for so Moses’ paren...

When I was in my early teens the grandmother of a good friend told me that it would have been better if I had never been born. She explained her opinion by saying that my birth had been too hard on my mother. Since I came so fast that I was almost born in a taxicab, I knew that the actual birth wasn't the issue. And I wasn't a bad kid. So I assume that raising a baby when you are past forty was what she was referring to. It's all, as they say, "water under the bridge." But I guess the recent discussion about post-birth abortions ("infanticide" to most of us) was what got me thinking about that long ago incident with my friend's grandmother. The "logic" to post-birth abortions is that if a baby is deemed to present a hardship to the family, its death is therefore justifiable. I'm sure glad my mother and father didn't consider me a hardship, and therefore disposable, because I came late in their lives! Sadly, recent news abou...

pecsma.hu (Google Images) There is a huge debate going on in Ontario these days about the new curriculum to be introduced into the education system. It allows for teaching on sex, consent, and sexual orientation to begin in the earliest grades. The change is promoted, indeed pushed, by an openly lesbian premier and apparently, if the allegations prove true, the curriculum was orchestrated by a minister of education who is currently being investigated for child abuse. One of the arguments against changing the curriculum has come from those who believe that sex education is the responsibility of the parents. Theoretically this sounds good but what happens in the case of children raised in an abusive environment? There aren’t any easy answers to the problem. It didn’t take this morning’s Scripture reading to remind me of all that is going on in the province I live in, but what I read was certainly a reminder of how seriously the Lord takes causing the weak to sin. We can’t expect Chri...

stmonica.net (Google Images) Once we get past the visit of the wise men to the home of the child Jesus (sometime around His second birthday) and the subsequent flight to Egypt to escape Herod, we know next to nothing about the childhood of Jesus. Luke 2:40 says: “ And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him. ” This was said of Him BEFORE the famous scene of the boy in the temple asking questions that astounded the teachers of the law. You are only supposed to be smart about spiritual things after you go to seminary, right? But Jesus never went to Bible College, or Seminary. In fact, He never went to Sunday School. We’d like to assume that because Jesus was God’s Son that He had an advantage over every other kid on the block when it came to knowing “stuff.” Sources of outside the Scriptures attribute to the child Jesus extraordinary miracles, an exercise of His divinity that overshadowed His humanity. But Hebrews 4:15 tells us: ...

Google Images Whether you believe that Matthew 18:1-14 refers to children or to new believers, or to both, the principle remains the same—we more “mature” believers had better not be the ones that lead them astray! “Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come! (Matthew 18:7). The discussion centered around a question about who would be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven (18:7). Jesus took a child and taught His disciples a lesson in dependence.  Then He warned them, and everyone else, to take great care to NOT lead these young ones astray—or else (18:6). So serious was this to Jesus that He went so far as to exaggerate the situation by saying it would be advisable to cut off whatever the offending appendage was rather than continue to be the cause of stumbling (18:8, 9). If you take them by the hand and lead them somewhere they shouldn't go, cut off that hand. If they follow your fee...

Reading: 3 John “ I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth ” (3 John 4, NIV). We used to struggle with what to get mom and dad for Christmas. It’s not that they had everything. There was always one more gadget that we could have purchased, destined to gather dust on some shelf. After my mother’s death I got more use out of the blender my brother had bought her one Christmas than she ever did (it’s still going more than 25 years later). The truth is, my parents needed very little. And they wanted even less. My parents weren’t demonstrative types. In some ways that characteristic made it easier to identify those things that they really valued. I know they valued who I became much more than they valued any of the gifts I ever gave them. When I graduated from seminary my mother was recovering from a broken leg. There was no way she was going to be able to make the 500 mile trip to see me graduate. I was also the class valedictorian—a rare privile...

“ I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven ” –Matthew 18:3, NIV. If you ask the average person what it means to “ become like little children ” you will often be told that a person needs to be “innocent” in order to gain heaven. Theologically that is true–though it isn’t our innocence that gains us heaven but the innocence that is declared to be ours when we ask Christ to forgive us and to cleanse us from our sins. But the verse tells us that there is something we have to “make” ourselves in order to be ready for the declaration of innocence that only God can make on our behalf. The question the disciples asked was, “ Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? ” (18:1, NIV). Jesus didn’t answer that question that way the disciples anticipated. There is no class system in heaven, no hierarchy of believers. The Lord turned the discussion to how a person gets into heaven in the first place, and pride (whic...

Three lessons about salvation back to back. THE STORY OF THE PHARISEE AND THE TAX COLLECTOR (Luke 18:9-14) The Pharisee counted on his works to get him through the door to the kingdom. He was totally unconscious of the inadequacy of his self-righteousness. But the tax collector knew what he was: " God, have mercy on me, a sinner " – Luke 18:13b, NIV. Lesson: Salvation comes to the sincerely repentant heart who sees himself as God sees him. THE STORY OF THE LITTLE CHILDREN AND JESUS (Luke 18:15-17) The disciples didn't see in the children what Jesus saw. He rebuked his followers for denying access to those who most showed the attitude that we all need to demonstrate. " . . .anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it " –Luke 18:17. Some people believe that Jesus is referring to the innocence of a child but the Scriptures clearly state that no one is innocent and no one is justified by his own "goodness....

I had an interesting conversation with our pastor yesterday. He's reading Goodbye Generation by David Sawler. Apparently the book explains why young people who have grown up in the church, so often abandon all connection with their heritage when they reach young adulthood. I'm sure there is much more to the discussion than this, but one thing struck a chord with me in our discussion. Let me explain. One of the points made in the book is that as young people experiment with the world and fall into sin, they feel more comfortable walking away from the church because, even when their background has been strongly evangelical and faith-based, these young people feel that they have not lived up to the standards of goodness expected by the church . Coupled with the feeling that they will be judged by other believers for their forays into the dark side, they simply stop coming to church. That there are judgmental people in the church is an unhappy reality. Some people think of t...

It comes back like a boomerang, or the incessant buzzing of a mosquito in my ear. Over these months of adjusting to my new role, getting to know people, and observing ministries, I've forgotten to count how many times those in leadership have mentioned how difficult it is to get workers. Last night was no exception. I sat with the gal in charge of children's ministries and heard the dreaded words: "we need more workers" once more. Actually it was more than once since much of what should be happening with the kids' program can't happen because there are not workers to help make it happen. If you ask, reasons as multiple. Some refuse to jump through all the legal hoops now required of people who work with children and youth. Others don't want to miss the church service during the month they are on duty with the kids. Some have health or family issues. Many say they don't have the "gift." A few claim "prior commitments" which take ...

I spent a lot of time yesterday cutting out paper dolls. No, I haven't lost my mind, or slipped into my second childhood. And they weren't just ordinary paper dolls—they were Civil War period replicas—appropriate considering that this week, Canada, the United States, and Venezuela, all celebrate their respective Independence Days. This morning I mixed up a double batch of play dough. All this in preparation for my Sunday School class this morning. It takes time and effort to get creative and make Sunday School interesting for kids. Sometimes I have to remind myself why I do it. For one thing, I came to know the Lord through the faithful ministry of Sunday School teachers. Sunday School teachers are the unsung heroes in God's Kingdom. They plant seeds in the most fertile ground of all—the open and relatively uncomplicated minds and hearts of little children. God planted in me the desire to serve Him when I was nine years old. I wonder why? Those Sunday School teachers exempl...

A friend of mine recently traveled to Florida for the births of two new grandchildren. Her step-daughter was due at the end of April, and her son's wife was expected to deliver at the end of May. In the meanwhile I was busy preparing for a series of studies on The Lord's Prayer. The two events melded as I thought about the phrase: " Our Father … " Those two babies came into the world with absolutely nothing, buck naked and totally dependent. Those are the conditions necessary for entering the Kingdom of God. We come with nothing and are totally dependent on the goodness and mercy of our Father in heaven. This was the message that Jesus delivered when He took the child into His arms and said: " I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven " —Matthew 18:2, 3. We can add nothing to our salvation except trust. It is only as we stand before Him with nothing to offer that we can receive everyth...