Like Little Children

From Hope To HomeAs we caravanned across Ohio on our way to a family vacation, it was granddaughter Jane’s turn to ride with me and talk about whatever was on her mind. Her question puzzled me: “How old will we be in the kingdom?” Katelyn, 14, had talked about her youth group, friends, frustrations and hopes. Philip, 12, talked mostly about rollerblading, hunting and fishing. Mary, 6, rambled on and on about anything and everything in rapid-fire detail. But Jane really caught me off guard. I never thought I’d have an 8-year-old theologian surprising me with questions about God’s kingdom. “How old do you think we’ll be?” I asked. It was obvious that she’d been doing some serious thinking about this for some time, because she responded with an interesting paraphrase of Mark 10:14 (Mt. 19:14; Lk. 18:16): “The Bible says Jesus really likes little kids, and wants them to come to Him, and said that His kingdom belongs to people like them. So I guess we’ll all be little kids in the kingdom.” Her thought process intrigued me, so I asked why she thought we’d be “little” instead of “big” kids. Her answer: “Because the Bible says ‘little’ that’s why. And it also says we need to be ‘born again’ to get in the kingdom (Jn. 3:3). That makes us all real little doesn’t it, Pap Pap?” I couldn’t argue with her reasoning, but I explained the difference between actually being a little child, and being “like” a little child. Jesus said, “Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom” (Mt. 18:4). She said she was happy we were in the kingdom together. Then, like kids, we ended our discussion with a Sunday School song: “Kids of the kingdom, that’s what we are!/Kids of the kingdom, that’s what we are!/We love Jesus, we love the Lord!/We love Jesus, we love the Lord!” Ten months before this happy discussion with Jane, I had a sad one with a mature Christian woman who had lost all the joy of being a child in the kingdom. In fact, she was suspicious of any mention of the kingdom. I hope she reads this month’s features. They’ll help her understand the kingdom and appreciate her King a little better. I hope you find them helpful too. By Larry Ondrejack