Saturday, June 18, 2011 - Out of the Mouth of Babes

Out of the Mouth of Babes

A couple of months ago I was serving in our preschool class at church and a question was asked that I haven’t been able to get out of my head. We had finished worship (otherwise known to a co-worker’s daughter as “singing songs and flashing lights”) and we were about to dive into the message for the week, which I’m sure was some variation of “Jesus loves me and he wants to be my friend.”

The Treehouse leader had just begun the story when a little voice politely interrupted. Usually when a hand is raised in Treehouse it can mean anything from “I have to go potty” to “My brother ran over my turtle yesterday.” You can imagine my surprise when the sweet voice asked “Why do we always talk about Jesus whenever we come in here?” As the other adults and I caught each other’s eyes to determine how to best answer the question with the flow of the presented story, the voice continued: “Why don’t we ever talk about God?”

The leader answered plainly, “Well, we do talk about God. Jesus is God.” The air thinned and we knew we could continue with the Bible story, until the child offered this rebuttal: “No, he’s not. Jesus is God’s son.”

At this point I was halfway wishing the kid just had to use the bathroom. I found it mind-boggling that this child’s brilliance and naivety could be so intertwined. This preschooler, who probably spent a good amount of time playing with spit bubbles and arguing with siblings over toys, so matter-of-factly presented truth without a shadow of a doubt.

Out of the mouth of babes.

This child wanted to know why we talk so much about Jesus during the weekend lessons. He wasn’t interested in the reasoning behind curriculum designed for 3-5 year olds. He wasn’t looking for theology. He was looking for simplicity. Rather than offer that, we tried to explain one of the most complicated aspects of the Christian faith to a four-year-old.

I’ve been thinking about how often people approach us with curiosity about our faith and we offer drawn out, legalistic responses that put the religion of Christianity in the place of the relationship with Christ.

As (somewhat of) an adult, I still can’t wrap my head around the Trinity. I just accept the fact that God is fully human in Jesus and Jesus lives in each of us as the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is a manifestation of God as part of my faith. I’ll never understand it.
But I’ll also never understand why babies are born addicted to drugs and women are sold into slavery and villages are annihilated and friends die way too young.

And I’ll also never understand why out of all of the mistakes I have made in my life, all of the sins I continue to commit each day, the Lord loves this undeserving soul so much that he can’t bear the thought of being separated from me.

A requirement of a relationship with God is the acceptance of His grace.

Grace does not mean I avoid consequences for my actions. No, no. Grace just means I can be forgiven and truly seek God.

It’s difficult, but it’s not complicated.

Just as I accept the idea of the Trinity so must I also accept the gift of grace.

I may be biased, but I think we can all learn a thing or two from preschoolers.

Mark 10:15, “Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”