Child-Like, Not Childish

We just spent a week on Hilton Head Island with a lot of family. It is an annual trip and we have tried to go when we could in the past. This year was full of fun as always, but it was hard for us. Being on vacation without Macayla seemed wrong. Moving on and doing things we as a family need or want to do can even stir up guilt. Of course, we know there is nothing to be guilty about as we have to get on with our lives, but the guilt is there nonetheless. Even the thought of starting back with seminary has a strange mix of excitement and guilt. But we know we have to pursue what God has for us and "move on" so to speak. Besides, even Macayla's last word was "Go!"

The beach was fun and we took our dog Lily with us. She loved the water and wanted to chase every bird she saw, even if they were a quarter mile out in the ocean. She also seems to be on the menu for alligators! A seven-foot alligator was very interested in Lily when we walked along the lagoon behind our condo. Jacob wore himself out and stayed wet, sandy, sweaty, and on the go most of the time. We fished and crabbed with minimal results and ate way too much. It was good to see so many in our family at the same time.

Jacob has been worried over the possibility of moving back to New Orleans. He became upset at one point this week when it came up. He says he wants to stay through the fifth grade at his current school and he is worried he will not have any friends in New Orleans. He simply was too young to truly remember when we were there the first time, but he literally started making friends in the first 15 minutes he was there. We tried to reassure him and I looked for some Scripture on the matter. What struck me was Matthew 18-19. At first this section of text caught my attention because it records Jesus holding children up as examples of what it means to be a disciple. But the text has a message for us all and it was ironic I was studying this while staying in Sea Pines on Hilton Head Island.

Jesus said we must become like a child if we want to enter the kingdom of heaven. We must not import our modern, western ideal of childhood into this passage. Jesus is NOT saying for us to be naive, cute, and uninformed. In first-century Judea, children were third-class citizens. They had little to no rights. Jesus was telling his disciples, grown men, to give up their rights; to humble themselves and put others first. It was radical and insulting in that culture. The idea of debasing ourselves is insulting for our own culture. Later, Jesus teaches his disciples to not prevent children from coming to him for the "kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." The next person they meet is a rich, young man recorded for us in Matthew 19:16-30. The young man asks what it takes to have eternal life. Jesus responds with a summary of the Ten Commandments, conspicuously leaving out the first four. The man responds he has done all of these things but seems to know something is still lacking and asks as much. Jesus said if the man wanted to be complete he needed to sell all of his things, give the money to the poor and follow Christ. The rich, young man went a way grieving.

Jesus told his disciples it was more difficult for a rich man to get into the kingdom of heaven than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. This amazed the disciples as their contemporary theology told them wealthy people were blessed by God for their righteousness. If they could not get into heaven, who could? They would have looked around Sea Pines and seen a bunch of righteous people. But Jesus was saying our wealth and possessions can become idols and hinder us from serving him. This is what the first four of the Ten Commandments is about. Peter proclaimed he and the disciples left everything to follow Jesus. What's in it for them? Jesus responded that the disciples will have places of authority in the eternal kingdom and anyone who "has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name's sake, will receive many times as much and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last; and the last, first." There it is!

This is what Jacob and our family needs. When we consider God's call on our lives as a family, what is keeping us from following it? A house? A comfortable, safe neighborhood and school? A certain income level? None of these things are bad and sometimes we are blessed with them so they can be used for God's kingdom, but not our own. As I looked around Hilton Head Island, I saw great blessing, but I wondered how that blessing was being used for God's glory. It made me wonder if an alternative family vacation could be a mission trip. If I could get my extended family involved we would have a ready-made team of nurses, construction workers, engineers, great cooks, great childcare, and a Bible teacher. We even have an attorney! Our family has all the skill-sets we need to meet a wide range of needs.

In the meantime, we are planning a trip to New Orleans to get reacquainted and seek God's confirmation, one way or the other, if he wants us to return. We hope this Scripture and the trip will also help Jacob gain some clarity as well. Pray for him and us, please, as we seek to be child-like, not childish, for Christ.