We are here in this world not of it. We are a child of
God. Think on this for a while. Adam and Eve's
dream come true. The serpent convinced Eve that eating the
fruit of the forbidden tree would make her like God. It
opened the eyes to the knowledge of good and evil and caused the
downfall of mankind.
First, the question – if you were in the Garden of Eden instead of Eve,
would you have eaten the fruit? I have discussed this with
many groups and Sunday School classes and the answer always comes out
yes. We are imperfect and our human nature always wants
more. So we inherited the fall of mankind.
But now comes Jesus with Baptism. So now we have a new
inheritance. We are now a child of God. Still
imperfect, still with a human body, but with a spirit of life
eternal. When God created mankind, He did it in His own image.
So where does that put us? On the highest of all God's
creation – higher than the angels and higher than the devil.
Yes, you are more powerful than the devil and the devil has no hold
over your soul. That is unless you turn it over to him
through sin.
Your body is here on earth and reacts with that. The world
can do all kinds of things to the body, and it can tempt the body into
sin. But that's where it ends, it cannot do anything to your
soul.
So are we powerless against the world? Not by any means! Jesus showed
us the way. God is more powerful than the world.
Jesus promised “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you could
tell the mountain to move and it would move”. Jesus performed
miracles and promised “you can do even more than Me”.
More
than that, God wants us to be a child. I want you get a
strong image of a child less that 2 years old. It helps if
you have one or know of a close one. Think hard of what this
child can do and can't do. Remember, Jesus said we are to
come to the Father as a little child.
This
child can feed himself of food that was prepared, can undress himself,
cannot support himself or earn a living, can get into trouble, and can
walk and say some words. This child has only the fear of
being left behind, has no hate for anyone, has no prejudices, quickly
forgets hurts, doesn't judge anyone, shows love and affection for those
who care for him, and is totally dependent on his parents.
This is the perfect description of what Jesus taught in "His Greatest
Sermon" (Matthew 5-7).
Mark 10:13-16 "And they
were bringing children to Him so that He might touch them; but the
disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant
and said to them, "Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder
them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
'Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a
child will not enter it at all.' And He took them in His arms and
began blessing them, laying His hands on them."
I
pray to the Father that He sends the Holy Spirit to instill in you this
powerful love and trust so that you become as a little child of
His. I ask this in the name of Jesus and His promise that
this will be done. Amen.
