Robert Fulghum wrote in the Kansas City Times,
"Most of what I really need to know about how to live, and what to do, and
how to be, I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate
school mountain, but there in the sandbox at nursery school. "These are the things I learned: Share
everything. Play fair. Don't hit people. Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess. Don't take things that aren't yours. Say you're sorry
when you hurt somebody . . . When you go out into the world, watch for traffic,
hold hands, and stick together. " This writer has captured part of what
Jesus meant when he said, "Unless you become like little children, you
won't enter the kingdom of heaven."*
There is a temptation for some of us to make things
more difficult than necessary, especially when it comes to spiritual
matters. Rarely is it motivated by some
sinister effort to intentionally complicate matters. Like the Pharisees before us, we genuinely
want to serve God as carefully and completely as possible. But also like the Pharisees before us, our
sincere desire causes us to make laws to help us keep other laws. And, before long, we go far astray from what
God intends. We start gagging on gnats
while swallowing camels (Matthew 23:24).
Our diligent search for life in rules and regulations causes us to miss
the real Lifegiver (John 5:39).
Jesus was the Master of sandbox theology. When questioned about the Law of God, He said
it was really very simple. He boiled it
all down to two fundamental concerns: loving God and loving your neighbor
(Matthew 22:35-40). You don’t have to be
a systematic theologian to understand that.
Even a child can get it. If
serving God has become a burden, then we have missed something important. Jesus said His yoke is easy and His burden is light (Matthew
11:28-30). If that is not our
experience, perhaps we need to go back to the sandbox.
God loves you!
Mike
*Hugh Duncan, sermonillustrations.com
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