When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly, but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
1 Corinthians 13
Do we think about childhood as something we must grow out of, or something that we must try to retain. The Bible offers many familiar tenets about the nature of childhood, but we rarely consider how contradictory these can be. What does it mean the think as a child? George MacDonald, the visionary author of fairy tales and fantasies for children and adults, suggests that ‘Then to receive a child in the name of Jesus is to receive Jesus; to receive Jesus is to receive God; therefore to receive the child is to receive God himself.’ From ‘The Child in the Mist’, Unspoken Sermons, 1885.
To think as a child:
ReplyDeleteTo use one-step logic, to accept things at face value.
This can be both good and bad depending on its context. The Bible is full of apparent paradoxes!
When accepting Jesus: Take it at face value.
When dealing with the world: be cautious!
To think like a child is to see the wonders in the every day miracles called life. To be like a child is to to let every moment unfold without the preconceptions, prejudices, and judgements found in so many adults.
ReplyDelete