Little Children
“Assuredly,
I say to you, unless you are converted and become as
little children, you will by no means enter the
kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3)
We recently
enjoyed a publication from the “Korea
Gospel Mission.” Under the headline, “We
Lost Again,” we read these words: “Our
children’s soccer team lost 3 to 5 in an important
game. Still we celebrated by eating noodles
together, because we lost 0 to 6 last year. We have
many excuses; our children are smaller, the ages of
our children are not even, etc. but we are
improving, and our children practice hard. We may
be able to come to (a)
draw next year. Did I tell you about the time our
softball team was losing 14 to nothing in the first
inning? I said (to)
the children, ‘Why don’t
you give up?’ They answered, ‘Why? It’s only the
first inning!’”
In the United
States, as in many other parts of the world, there
exists tremendous pressure to remove God,
particularly the Son of God, Jesus Christ, from our
buildings, from our prayers, from our schools, and
ultimately, they hope, from our hearts. The other
day we were handed a newspaper clipping (a paid
advertisement) that urged us to sign a petition to
stop the County of Los Angeles from removing an
image of the cross of Jesus Christ from the County
Seal. The ad asked the question, “What
can I do…” and the answer given in capital
letters was that we should: “SIGN
THE PETITION…”
And perhaps we
should sign. Look to the Lord, for He may be
calling you to an active role in such matters. He
certainly is calling us all to join His team, and
like the children who were losing “14
to nothing in the first inning,” the game is
not over, even though the other team members seem
larger. Note that from a human perspective, the
other guys indeed ARE bigger, but we have an
advantage, too – The Lord is playing on our team.
There is another
article next to “We Lost
Again.” This one is entitled, “I
Have Always Been With (the)
Losing Team,”
written by the pastor/author of the newsletter, Dr.
Yoon Kwon Chae. You might be interested in what he
said, particularly if your efforts seem small and
ineffectual: “I have been
with the losing team all my life. My first church
started with 4 people. My wife, (along with)
a handicapped man who kept yawning, and a lady who
kept talking even when I was preaching. I was rather
disappointed and almost stopped preaching. But,
that day, I preached from Luke 14, Jesus’ parable
(of) the feast where the
poor and the maimed were invited. From that day, I
decided to look at back alleys and small path(s)
by the highway. I guess
that’s why we started (the)
orphanage.”
Our efforts
sometimes seem small; so small that we wonder if
it’s all worth it. Not unlike the author of “I
Have Always Been With (the)
Losing Team,” I
have taught little Bible studies for over 30 years.
Many of them have been like his: 3 or 4 people or
possibly half a dozen, and after a time the
attendees drift away. You have to wonder from a
human point of view – what was that all about? Was
it worth it? And I have to respond – Did the Lord
call you to the ministry that didn’t seem to be
“worth it?” If He did call you, the proof of that
call is not found in the numbers or the response.
The Holy Spirit Himself will take our “small”
efforts and make them His victories!
Have you been “converted”
by the Lord, as in our Scripture verse for today?
There is more to that verse than we ordinarily
think. The underlying meaning of “strepho,”
the Greek word translated “converted”
in that verse, is to “turn,”
to “bring back,”
to “turn one thing into
another.” When you place your faith, your
trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are turned from
one kind of person into another. And the word
translated “children”
in this verse is a special one, “paidia,”
which refers to a little child, a very young one.
Continuing the
analogy of Dr. Yoon’s softball team, you are taken
from a team that is older, larger and stronger, and
somehow you are turned into someone younger and
weaker, which qualifies you for the “losing” team.
That doesn’t sound so good, except you should
remember that Almighty God plays on your team. We
give up our human strength, which previously may
have seemed considerable, and trust in His strength
instead. Scripture says: “Not
by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the
Lord of Hosts” (Zechariah 4:6). If we look
at human power, our team appears to be losing. But
from God’s vantage point, the Lord through the Holy
Spirit is our pitcher, catcher, outfielder and He is
covering all the bases. If this is soccer (futbal),
He is our forward, midfielder, keeper – He plays all
the positions. Though the world may not understand
it, He wins the game! And then shares the credit!
All we did was stand there, often missing the ball,
but we trusted in Him, and when He wins the game, He
shares the victory with you and me!
We cannot lose
with the Lord, when we are “converted”
and become His “little
children.” If you follow sports at all,
you’ve seen games in which the winning team lost in
the first quarter, the second quarter didn’t go
well, the third and the fourth quarters were not so
hot, and then it went into overtime, and our team
won! Sometimes it’s the referee or the umpire’s
calls that make the difference, and our Lord is not
only our Coach and plays all the positions Himself,
but He is also the Referee! Actually, He owns the
team and has a controlling interest in the other
team, and He wants ours to win! Not fair? When you
think about it, He gives everybody on the other team
a chance to join His team, and if they don’t take
Him up on it, they can’t really blame Him for the
outcome. As Peter observed, God is “not
willing that ANY should perish, but that ALL should
come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).
A third article in
the “Korea Christian
Gospel Mission” contains these words, under
the heading, “I Thank God
For My Small Ministry,” which says this – “And
now, after fifty years, I am still a minister of a
small congregation of the lost and abandoned. I am
still teaching small classes. I am still preaching
to the persecuted in North Korea. But I thank God
FOR MY SMALL MINISTRY. In fact, in these days, we
are getting more than a few lost and abandoned
babies in our children’s home, some of them come
without names. I named one “River,” hoping that he
will become like
(a) river… keep
flowing, accepting everything and filling every
valley of despair.”
Do the events of
your life make you sometimes feel discouraged?
Don’t give up; it’s only the first inning. Become
one of the Lord’s “little
children” and the victory, along with the “the
kingdom of heaven” is yours. Keep on
TRUSTING in Him.
Lord, I will take
the risk and trust in You, even though it seems like
I must become a little child in order to do it. I
receive You now. I trust in You, Lord. In Jesus
Name. Amen.
