Faith Like a Child

I played with my oldest daughter, who was about four years of age. I would toss her higher than my head and then catch her as she dropped. I could tell by her screams of laughter that she was delighted. As I approached my wife, who was washing dishes at the kitchen sink, I stood the child on the kitchen counter and spoke with my wife. From the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of my daughter raising her hands straight over her head and began falling forward. The unthinkable was about to happen; she would crash face-first onto the floor. I have never moved more quickly and caught her just before she hit the floor. Resisting an impulse to scold her, I told her daddy did not want to play that game anymore. It scared me. I then realized she had closed her eyes, raised her arms, and fallen because she knew her daddy loved her and would never let her hurt herself. It didn't occur to her that I was looking the other way and could barely see her. It taught me a lesson I will never forget.

I want to relate my version of some instances of Jesus and His experiences with His Father. First, I see Jesus coming up from the waters after John had baptized Him. Then, his Father spoke aloud to Him, with a voice that sounded like thunder to many saying, "This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased." Again, on the Mount Transfiguration, the Father spoke loudly to Jesus, saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him."

These two instances, in particular, and every time that Jesus ministered, showing God's love to even the greatest of sinners, rooted and grounded the man Jesus in understanding and receiving the breadth, length, depth, and height of God's love.

John the Baptist identified Jesus as the lamb of God who would take away the world's sin (John 1:29). The world's sin was, is, and always will be rebellion against God the King.

As Jesu hung on the cross, just a short time before His death, God the Father took every spirit of rebellion from humanity (Romans 6:6) and placed them all on Jesus. His destiny was to die as the worst sinner of all time. Humanity's spirit of rebellion was crucified and died on the cross with Jesus.

Although His Father had turned His back upon sin, Jesus was grounded in His Father's love for Him. With the faith of a child, He closed His eyes and spoke for the last time, saying, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." Despite all of the world's sins on Himself, He knew His Father could never deny Himself and would save Him. That is what happened. God left the corruption of humanity on the cross, but He took Christ to heaven.

This action by Jesus secured the love connection between Jesus and His Father forever. By expressing our child-like faith in God's love, we connect to Jesus, who is rooted and grounded in the love of God. We do not have to make a connection to God; we unite with Him through Jesus.

When God took the spirit of rebellion from humanity, He gave humankind the spirit of Christ. Now we can say as the Apostles Paul did in Galatians 2:20, I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 1 John 2:9 declares that this new Spirit of Christ that dwells within us cannot sin. So also, by faith, we receive the faith of Christ for our use.

Many will disagree with God's viewpoint and say they know better. This view cannot be correct because they have seen people sin hundreds of times. However, it is the soul that disagrees with God, not the spirit of man. Although the spirit has been born again and cannot sin, the soul still has free will and must work out its salvation. Allowing God to renew our minds until He transforms them into total agreement with the spirit is salvation. Working in partnership with the Holy Spirit is essential for completing this process.

I think another word would have been more appropriate to use in the place of the heart in the King James Bible. The word translated heart in both Testaments of the Bible means the mind or heart of the mind. Today this is called the subconscious mind. So therefore, it is the renewing of the mind that leads to salvation, not the heart. Renewing our subconscious mind is a long process and can never be a single event. The subconscious mind makes up about eighty percent of our brain capacity, and many believe it records all life events. Therefore, many of our thoughts disagree with God's viewpoint and must be changed.