John 5

The popular mindset today—and has been for a long time—is this: “If Jesus came and appeared to me physically, right now, then I could be confident in my faith—throwing in a miracle or two might not be a bad idea either,” and that’s an easy stance to take, I should know J. But then think about that concept for a minute. What happened the last time Jesus came and ministered and performed miracles among us? It seems that more people—more of His people—rejected and killed Him than immediately accepted Him; even many of those who did believe chose to hide their faith for fear of losing their position and their peers.

“I do not accept praise from men, but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept Me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?”

“Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved praise from men more than praise from God.” John 12:42-43

Yes, I’m sure that if Christ were to come down and mingle among us today, we would treat Him in the same manner that the Jews and the Romans did 2,000 years ago, and it wouldn’t surprise me if we had many people telling Him—the Maker of the universe, the First and the Last, the Savior of the world—to tone down His message and be a little more open minded and accepting…people don’t like being told their belief of choice is wrong, you know? That just wouldn’t be appropriate. Why would so many think this way? Because we don’t want to leave the comfort of the corporate acceptance that we’ve worked so hard to obtain. Haven’t you ever noticed how easy it is to be a group Christian, but when you’re out on your own, you find yourself pausing to think about how “the others” might react if you were to be bluntly Christian? That was the situation in the above verses, and God clearly points out for us the “why”—because they loved praise from men more than praise from God. Yup, they wanted to “fit in” or, to put it simply, conform.
If we’re honest, we all get easily pulled into looking for the approval of those around us instead of striving for the praise that comes from God, but have you ever thought of how funny that sounds? I mean, I understand the somewhat simplicity of the occurrence, but when you really think about it, it sounds completely absurd—striving for the temporary and frail support of (in comparison) insignificant humans or working towards the praise of an everlasting, universe-shaping, life-giving, sin-purifying, amazingly loving King of Kings? See, one day all the people that are currently around you are going to be gone, and all you’ll have before you is Christ (in which case “all” will be more than enough), and from what I understand, standing before God is going to go beyond anyone’s imagination. Who and what will you be thinking about at that moment? Right, probably more about Who allowed you to enter that holy and perfect place and less about what pats on the back you received from your peers. So…whose praise do you truly desire to strive for?

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will.” John 12:2
“Jesus answered, ‘If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing; it is My Father who glorifies Me, of whom you say, “He is our God.”'”Romans 8:54

Matthew 18

“I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of Heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven.”
When you were a little kid, who was your hero? Who was it that you wanted to be just like when you grew up, outside of a super hero, of course? Chances are, it was either your mom or dad—at least that’s the way it was for me. Originally, I was going to be a nurse and live in the house right next to my mom and dad’s and carpool into work with my mother every day. I watched everything my parents did, admiring their every step; even when they punished me and I thought it was unfair, I would eventually just give into them—after all, they were bigger and older than I was, they were…adults. Everything in me lived for the moments when Dad would play Barbies with me just before bed (yes, his love was that great) or when Mom would hold me as I fell asleep—spending time with them was the greatest thing in the world. And then there were the questions. I was curious about everything, and the first person I would go to for answers would be one of my parents. I mean, seriously, when you’re that age, your parents know everything.
Every time I read Jesus’ telling His disciples and the people to become like little children, I can’t help but think that that’s kind of what He means—that childlike obedience and longing for our Father. Think about Him from a child’s perspective, and He’s so much bigger and more wonderful than from an analytical “genius’” perspective. Admit it, the vast majority of us find ourselves leaning towards the latter all the time. I often find myself becoming so obsessed with figuring everything out and obtaining every bit of knowledge that’s out there that I forget who God is—I block out the reason I desire to learn so much. However, I will say that when I consider all that I am learning—be it at youth group, in church, at school, or at home—it makes me realize how incredibly much I don’t know. When we spent 3 months in Genesis 3 alone, I was wondering how on earth are we ever going to glean everything there is to glean from the next 1,186 chapters in a reasonable lifetime. Think about it—if we were to spend 3 weeks in each chapter of the Bible (which is easy to do), we would spend nearly 69 years trying to get it all in our heads. Yeah…and we think we’ve got Him pretty well figured out right now, don’t we? Then there are big scholars who spend years researching to write an entire book on one miniscule little section of Scripture…there’s just so much of God and so little of us!
See, it’s easy for many to talk about the power and glory and greatness of God, but to actually live with that wonder 24/7 is rare…sometimes I find it difficult to even comprehend the uncomprehendibleness of God. But then I guess that’s the point, isn’t it? God—our Father—is just so immense that wonder and awe at Him should be immediate. Yes, we are to pursue knowledge and wisdom from Him, but we must also keep in mind His infinite greatness. Romans 11:33-34 says,
“Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable His judgments, and His paths beyond tracing out! ‘Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor?’”
It’s only when one lives with the wonder and innocence of a child, with a mind and heart desiring to take in everything pertaining to Goodness and Truth, that he can truly appreciate the grandeur of the Lord—that He’s the loving Father whose children see Him as the best there could be, as the One who sincerely has all the answers.
After all, can I form a single mountain? Take the stars in hand and count them? Can I even take a breath without God giving it to me? He is first and last, before all that has been; beyond all that will pass. God is God and I am not; I can only see a part of the picture He’s painting—God is God and I am man, so I’ll never understand it all, for only God is God. :)