To receive a child is to receive Christ, and to receive Christ is to also receive the Father.<\/em><\/p>\nThe late, great theologian George MacDonald deduced from this the following:<\/p>\n
\u201cThen 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.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/i>\u201cWhat is the Kingdom of Christ? A rule of love, of truth \u2013 a rule of service. The King is the chief servant in it\u2026.If then, to enter this Kingdom, we must become children, the spirit of children must be its pervading spirit throughout, from lowly subject to lowliest King\u2026.\u2019Whosoever shall humble himself as a little child, the same is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.\u2019\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/i>\u201c\u2026To receive the child because God receives it\u2026is one thing; to receive it because it is like God\u2026is another.<\/i><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/i>\u201c\u2026But to advance now to the highest point of this teaching of our Lord: \u2018He that receives me receives Him who sent me.\u201d To receive a child in the name of God is to receive God himself\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/i>\u201c\u2026God is represented in Jesus, for that God is like Jesus: Jesus is represented in the child, for that Jesus is like the child. Therefore, God is represented in the child, for that he is like the child. God is child-like.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
\u2013 [Unpoken Sermons, George MacDonald, pgs. 10-12]<\/i><\/p>\n
Are we so scandalized by this notion that God is child-like? If so, why?<\/p>\n
Is it because we still prefer a God who is too Holy to be near us? Do we have trouble imagining a God who is closer to us than our own heartbeat? Or as near to us as our own breath?<\/p>\n
Jesus is \u201cGod with us\u201d or \u201cEmmanuel\u201d. He promised never to leave us \u2013 ever. He is here now and so is the Father. Together, they both have come to make their home in us.<\/p>\n
This means that Jesus and the Father and the Holy Spirit are living and breathing in me \u2013 and in you \u2013 right now.<\/p>\n
God is not far away. God is not \u201cout there\u201d or \u201cup there\u201d. God is not high and exalted in the sense that God is not right here, right now; inhabiting this very moment.<\/p>\n
This means that every moment is a Holy Moment. All ground is Holy Ground. All experiences are Spiritual experiences.<\/p>\n
And, more than this, it means that God is humble and loving, and giving, and yes, even childlike.<\/p>\n
Say it out loud: God is childlike.<\/p>\n
As MacDonald sums it up:<\/p>\n
\u201cHow terribly, then, have the theologians misrepresented God in the measures of the low and showy, not the lofty and simple humanities!\u00a0 Nearly all of them represent him as a great King on a grand throne, thinking how grand he is, and making it the business of his being and the end of the universe to keep up his glory, wielding the bolts of Jupiter [or Zeus] against them that take his name in vain\u2026.Brothers, have you found our King? There he is, kissing little children and saying they are like God\u2026the simplest peasant who loves his children and his sheep were \u2013 no, not a truer, for the is false, but \u2013 a true type of our God beside that monstrosity of a monarch.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\nTo be like God, then, is to be like a child: Full of innocence, wonder, humility, playfulness, and generosity.<\/p>\n
The essential essence of mankind is childhood. Every adult is just an overgrown child who has forgotten their childlikeness. Jesus wants us to remember who we were \u2013 who we really are. And when we do, we realize that God is also childlike and we are like God when we are like the inner child who remains hidden within us.<\/p>\n
Now, this doesn\u2019t mean that God is \u201cchildish\u201d \u2013 those are two different things, aren\u2019t they? God is not childish, and we are not encouraged to be childish \u2013 impatient, impudent, stubborn, willful, demanding, etc.<\/p>\n
We ARE encouraged to become like little children in order to see the Kingdom, enter the Kingdom, and receive Christ \u2013 and therefore the Father also.<\/p>\n
Try to imagine God as a childlike being who is kind, gentle, humble, loving, compassionate, generous and accepting. This is what it means to see God as God truly is. It\u2019s also what it means to see a picture of we are also called to be as image-bearers of the Divine.<\/p>\n
I am encouraged by this upside-down view of God as a childlike soul who holds the universe in his hands, and yet does so without any guile, or malice, or anger, or wrath.<\/p>\n
This is the picture of God we see embodied in Christ. This is who God is, and this is who we are called to become.<\/p>\n
This is how we descend into the greatness described by Jesus where the greatest is the servant, the most humble, of all.<\/p>\n
**<\/p>\n
Keith Giles is a former pastor who left the pulpit 11 years ago to start a church that gives away 100% of the offering to the poor in their community.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\nHis\u00a0new book\u00a0\u201cJesus Unbound: Liberating the Word of God from the Bible\u201d,\u00a0is\u00a0available now on Amazon and features a Foreword by author Brian Zahnd.<\/em><\/p>\nHe is also the author of the Amazon best-seller,\u00a0\u201cJesus Untangled: Crucifying Our Politics To Pledge Allegiance To The Lamb\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\nKeith also co-hosts the\u00a0Heretic Happy Hour Podcast\u00a0on iTunes and Podbean. He and his wife live in Meridian, Idaho.<\/em><\/p>\nBONUS: Want to unlock exclusive content including blog articles, short stories, music, podcasts, videos and more? Visit my\u00a0Patreon page.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cAnd he took a child, and set him in the midst of them: and when he had taken the child in his arms, he said, \u201cWhoever receives a child like this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not only me, but also the Father who sent me.\u201d [Mark 9:33-37] Such a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3089,"featured_media":2079,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[260,87,10,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cosmic-christ","category-gods-love","category-preemptive-love","category-theology"],"yoast_head":"\n
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