Tuesday July 8, 2003

~ Dealing with children… ~

   “And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. 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.
   Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man throught whom they come! If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.
   See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.”
  

— Matthew 18:5-10 (NIV) —

   I was always afraid of little children. They scare me. I always thought it was because I don’t know how to handle them, but while that is true… I think Jesus hits the nail on the head… I’m afraid to mislead them; “better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”
  
   I’m actually serving in children’s ministry… I must be nuts. I have no sense of authority. Don’t know how to handle kids and don’t know what to do with them. I’m sure that sounds really bad… but it’s not that bad when you have people to help you keep the chaos/entropy contained. Who knows? Maybe God’s gonna teach me something. I sure have plenty to learn in this area. I would not call my childhood “normal”… not by a far stretch, but that’s a whole other story. Enough digression, back to the WORD!
  
   Jesus then speaks of sin… and self-mutilation… rather confusing from any worldly viewpoint. Who would choose to cut off his limbs rather than sin? I don’t personally know of anyone who would do that… Jesus is, of course, the exception. Duh, he’s the one who said it in the first place. More so, he proved his point, God told him to die on the cross, and Jesus obeyed. Jesus chose to die on the cross. Choose to do good, aka God’s will.
  
   Do you know what leadership means to Jesus? A leader serves. The greatest will be the one who serves everyone. How you treat the little ones always gets back to God… Each and every one of them is important. *starts sweating bullets*
  
   Father, I don’t consider myself a good role model, not even close. May You shine through my weaknesses, make this salt “salty”, let me be Your hands and feet, to spread the good news. Each day… one day at a time, may Your Will be done in my life. Come into this temple and do spring cleaning… rip it apart and rebuild it to Your glory. So that people can look at me… and see You! ^_^ I pray all this in Jesus name, Amen.

== == == == == == == == == == == == ==

bleh, my bible study was kinda crammed in today… sucks when you don’t spend some time and take the time to chew it and digest it… forgive me…