Reflection: "God's Children"What’s something that every person reading this reflection has in common?
No one’s excluded? What’s the ONE experience that we know for sure we have ALL had? We can’t say for sure that all of us are Australian citizens - probably not. Or that all of us are definitely Sydney Swans, Waratahs ot Sydney FC supporters, or even that we’re all Uniting Church members. But there’s ONE thing that we know, for sure - we’re all human beings - breathing, drinking water, and eating food. Another thing we all have in common, is that we’ve all experienced childhood – and each experience is unique. Now, not all of us will be parents - mothers or fathers - or even have siblings, but childhood is common to us all. And so, we can answer the question, “What’s it like to be a child?” We all know what it’s like to be a child, experiencing new things, playing with toys, with others, or amusing yourself. Probably every child in the world knows what it means to play, as they’ve played with a stick, a ball, or had a race. Every child in the world has known what it meant to “go and hide” - to go hide in the bushes, in the trees, or in the dark and then have the thrill of the game. Unfortunately, some kids have to hide for fear of their lives. But at some time, they will probably have played with other kids. What’s it like to be a child? t’s to be creative, imaginative and explore the world around us.Children like to look under a leaf, touch a blade of grass and fondle it and wonder about it. Children are delighted to find a coin, a pin, a rock, something under the lounge. Most children have been frightened by thunder and lightning at some time, or looked at the clouds and wondered what they’re made of. Children wander about and explore the world they live in. What’s it to be a child? We should all know. We’ve all been there. A young child generally can’t take care of themselves - they need nurturing and are dependent on others. Somebody has to meet their needs for food and water and warmth and clothing, because children are vulnerable. Even in the poorest of poor nations, a child needs to be loved and the same is true in the richest of nations.Children need to be loved by their parents, to experience the warmth and tenderness from another’s body. To nurse at a mother’s breast, be held and squeezed and hugged and to be delighted in. Every child in the world craves to be loved, as much as they need the food, water and clothing to sustain them. When I look at my own childhood, I sometimes wonder what’s happened to the little child in me that I knew so well - the little child that lived inside of me - I wonder what happened to all the little boys and little girls that I knew. When I look at our young grand-daughters, I see that they’re polite, energetic, fresh, vital, open, happy and kind. And then I wonder what they’ll be like in ten years’ time, when they’re teenagers - young women. Will I have to ask myself the question, “What happened to the little girls inside of them?” John writes, “See the great love the Father has given us, that he has called us God’s little children.” Eight times in this letter, John uses the phrase “little children”. To call the adult followers of Christ “my little children”, or “my little loved ones,” suggests that the author, John, was an older person when he wrote those words. In fact, scholars say that he was quite an old man when he wrote this. I guess we could call him old Grandpa John. We actually know a lot about John. He called himself the disciple whom Jesus loved. John was the disciple whom Jesus had entrusted with his mother Mary, when he hung on the cross. John was also the leader of the Christian congregation in the city of Ephesus. His skin was probably old and wrinkled by the time he wrote these words. We imagine that his heart was old and wise and was filled with great, great love. He had become the master, the beloved old teacher - the wisest of men. He was the last living disciple of Jesus. And people would sit around him, sit at his feet and listen to him teach. The wise old man would say, “My little children, do not sin.” “My little children, your sins are forgiven.” “My little children, do not love in words, but love in deeds and in truth.” “See the great love that God the Father has for you, my little children, that he has called you his children.” Jesus said, “Let the little children to come unto me and forbid them not. For of such is the kingdom of heaven.” The Bible teaches, Jesus teaches, and old Grandpa John teaches that by calling us “little children”, God reveals his love for us. “My little children.” “My little loved ones.” By naming us his children, this shows that God loves us. God loves us immensely and knows our vulnerability, our helplessness, our childishness, our foolishness, and he’s patient with us, because we are his little children. God knows that, in reality, we’re not older, mature, grown-up adults, but still his little children. And in that I mean in maturity and experience, not just our age.Parents realizes what it means to love their little children. We have this deep abiding love for them. Sometimes our love for them is just too overwhelming. Parents have deep feelings of joy and happiness and elation with them and also have a great love for them. There’s no greater love than that of a parent for a child. And such is God’s love for us the little children of the universe. We are “his” children, and that personal pronoun “his” makes all the difference in the world. When a child is your own, you love them so much more deeply. You seem to love them in spite of their faults, in spite of their irritations, in spite of their problems. You just love them. And so it is with God, our heavenly Father. We’re God’s little children and we belong to him. By calling us his little children, this reveals the patient and intense love that God has for us, because God loves his children just like an earthly parent loves his or her own children in a way that another parent cannot love them. Let’s come at it another way. Think about what the most valuable room in your house is? Let’s imagine that you live in a large palace with hundreds of rooms. In one room are all the beautiful crown jewels of Russia and England. In another room are all the diamonds of South Africa and in yet another room are the paintings from the Louvre. In still another room is all the gold from Fort Knox. And in still another room are all the computers of the world. In all these rooms are the most beautiful and expensive things in the world, but there is one room, the family room off the kitchen where all the family gathers together - your children, your grandchildren, your family. Now, tell me, if you were a loving parent/grandparent, what would be your favourite room in the house? You know very well what it is - it’s your family room where the children gather. It’s your children and their children - your grandchildren. Your children are by far the most valuable possession that you ever had because your children talk to you and love you and respond to you and you to them. And likewise with God, who happens to own a palace called the universe. In one room God has all the galaxies, in another room all the stars and the moons, and still another room is the planet Earth. In all the rooms of God’s house, only one room has people. That room is the planet Earth - God’s family room. Now tell me, what room does the heavenly Father love more than any other room in the universe? Isn’t it the family room? Isn’t it where his children are? Aren’t we, his children, not worth more than all the galaxies, all the stars, all the planets? Of course we are. And the reason that God loves us more than anything else in creation is obvious. We talk to God in prayer, telling him that we love him, and showing him when we’re happy or sad. We can sit in the bathtub talking to him at night, and he delights with us as we talk to him, just as you and I delight as we listen to our little children as they sit in the bathtub babbling to themselves and to us. The reason we’re the most valuable thing to God in the whole universe is that we’re children and we pray. We see the great love the father has for us - in calling us his little children. So John teaches and so Jesus teaches. And because every parent wants to see their beloved children do well in life, God sent his heavenly son Jesus to live among us, so that we can learn the best way to live. Jesus gave us many examples of the right way to live. Children learn from their parents and it’s up to us to follow God’s examples, trying to be the best children ever. God loves all his children - and that includes us. Pastor Rick
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