He took me as i am;

Saturday, March 10, 2012

i think i finally understand what it means when the bible talks of Jesus honouring those who have faith like that of a child!

'and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."' - Matthew 18:3

in the above verse, the child displays a full dependence, and is one that needs to be taken care of. There are many other parts of the bible that support this,
eg when God wants us to trust in him fully, and also the parts where we are pictured as sheep and He is the shepherd.

however, may i suggest another aspect of what it means to have "faith like a child": perhaps it could also mean taking sermons as they are, and just applying it to our lives, instead of being nitpicky on the details.

ok before you all add me to your list of heretics, let me clarify myself. haha.

i know, at least for me, as i progressed in mt Christian walk, i found myself asking more and more questions, and finding new connections in the bible. however, this also made me more judgemental, when i found that someone was saying something that i thought was wrong. it even came to the stage where it was a matter of pride, just having a debate for the sake of seeing who knew more, and who was more right.

i was reminded in regenerate that the purpose of bible study, was so that we would be able to apply it to our lives, rather than just to have an intellectual discourse. (i think i said this before in my earlier posts :P

but it just struck me how someone, who may be a new Christian, and may not know the bible better than me; however this person may be pleasing God more, even if she did not interprete the bible correctly, but drew some principle from it that could be applied to her life. i think nikki once said that the bible could mean something to someone at a certain point of her life, and mean a different thing at another point of her life. i think its an interesting view; and one that allows for more application, rather than debate and scrutiny that is more than necessary.

sometimes i wish i could go back to those days when i was a new christian, learning so much and drawing principles for application even if it was not the author's main intention. sometimes, im just so worried that i will draw the "wrong" application, and right now thinking about it, i think it was just silly. i would sometimes step out of bible study, or sermon, or yd/yf, not learning anything because i couldnt put my finger on the author's main intention.

i think i need to make bible study a time to reflect and change, rather than a time to increase my knowledge.

Empower me, cause me to remember!

avoid the aliens;
1:10 AM