I take every opportunity to laugh because now I see the value of it, whereas in years past, I might have thought it was frivolous.
The Bible says in 1 Peter 5:8 to be sober of mind. In this context, that word “sober” means serious; however, that does not mean we should be that way continually. In Ecclesiastes 3:1,4 we are reminded, To everything there is a season, and a time for every matter or purpose under heaven: … A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.
Children are free, and Jesus came to set us free — free to love, to live, to enjoy and to be all we can possibly be, in Him.
In John 8:36 Jesus said, So if the Son liberates you [makes you free men], then you are really and unquestionably free.
And in Galatians 4:31 through 5:1 the Apostle Paul wrote: So, brethren, we [who are born again] are not children of a slave woman [the natural], but of the free [the supernatural]. In [this] freedom Christ has made us free [and completely liberated us], stand fast then, and do not be hampered and held ensnared and submit again to a yoke of slavery [which you have once put off].
Be determined to have this freedom and to keep it.
You have a blood-bought right to enjoy your life.
Jesus Calls His Own, “Little Children”
I believe one of the ways we maintain our liberty is through frequent reminders of who we are in Christ.
I have noticed that Jesus referred to His disciples at times as “little children.” In John 21:1-6, we find recorded a situation in which Peter and some of the other disciples decided to go fishing and had an unexpected encounter with the risen Christ:
After this, Jesus let Himself be seen and revealed [Himself] again to the disciples, at the Sea of Tiberias. And He did it in this way:
There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas, called the Twin, and Nathanael from Cana of Galilee, also the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples.
Simon Peter said to them, I am going fishing! They said to him, And we are coming with you! So they went out and got into the boat, and throughout that night they caught nothing.
Morning was already breaking when Jesus came to the beach and stood there. However, the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.
So Jesus said to them, Boys (children), You do not have any meat (fish), do you? [Have you caught anything to eat along with your bread?] They answered Him, No!
And He said to them, Cast the net on the right side of the boat and you will find [some]. So they cast the net, and now they were not able to haul it in for such a big catch (mass, quantity) of fish [was in it].
It seems to me that in deciding to jump up and go fishing, these disciples quickly made an emotional decision that did not produce the desired result. We also frequently make fleshly emotional decisions that do not produce anything until we learn that apart from Jesus we can do nothing. (John 15:5.)
Jesus came to the beach and addressed them in this manner: … Boys (children), You do not have any meat (fish), do you? [Have you caught anything to eat along with your bread?] … (John 21:5).
Perhaps Jesus was using this terminology to remind them of their need to come as little children and totally depend on Him.
We see the Apostle John using the same phrase in 1 John 2:1: My little children, I write you these things so that you may not violate God’s law and sin. But if anyone should sin, we have an Advocate (One Who will intercede for us) with the Father — [it is] Jesus Christ [the all] righteous [upright, just, Who conforms to the Father’s will in every purpose, thought, and action]. He also used this term in 1 John 2:12: I am writing to you, little children, because for His name’s sake your sins are forgiven [pardoned through His name and on account of confessing His name].
Perhaps John learned this expression from hearing Jesus refer to him and the other disciples in this way. It seems to be endearing terminology that immediately puts us at rest, makes us feel loved and cared for and lets us know that we need to lean on the Lord for everything.
If I were to call my son “baby” all the time, it would put an attitude in his mind (even in his subconscious) that I saw him as a baby, and it might even develop in him an attitude of immaturity. I noticed myself calling my boys “son” as they got older. I believe the change of name helped them grow up. They knew I was expecting some maturity from them just because of what I called them.
There are also times when I tell all four of our children that no matter how old they get, they will always be my babies. They know from this that they can depend on us to help them in a balanced way any time they need it. They can always come to us if they are hurting.
Jesus wants us to grow up in our behavior, but He also wants us to remain childlike in our attitude toward Him concerning trust and dependence. He knows that we cannot have peace and enjoy life unless we do so.
We Are God’s Children
[And the Lord answered] Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, they may forget, yet I will not forget you.
Isaiah 49:15
Isaiah 49:15 is another Scripture that reveals that our heavenly Father desires us to come to Him as children. In this verse, the Lord used the example of a nursing mother and how she tenderly cares for and has compassion on her child and his needs.
Our heavenly Father wants us to know that we are His precious little ones — His children — and that when we come to Him as such, we show faith in Him which releases Him to care for us.
God is not like people. If people in your past have hurt you, don’t let it affect your relationship with the Lord. You can trust Him. He will care for you as a loving Father.
When we do not receive the care and love that we should in our childhood, it causes fears that were never in God’s plan for us. Parents are to be a mirror image in the physical realm of what our relationship with God is to be like in the spiritual realm. Frequently, when individuals are reared in dysfunctional homes, it causes problems in their relationship with the Lord.
I pray that as you read these words and meditate on the Scriptures I am sharing, you will experience healing in your emotions that will set you free to be a responsible adult who can come to your heavenly Father in a childlike way — an adult who knows how to work hard when it is time to work, and how to play freely when it is time to play — one who can maintain godly balance in being serious and having fun.
Therefore, Live as Children!
[Live] as children of obedience [to God]; do not conform yourselves to the evil desires [that governed you] in your former ignorance [when you did not know the requirements of the Gospel].
1 Peter 1:14
We must come to God as little children or we will never walk in obedience. We must lean on Him and continually ask for His help. Everything that God has called us to do, He must help us do. He is ready, waiting, and more than willing. But we must come humbly as little children — sincere, unpretentious, honest, open — knowing that without Him and His continual help, we will never walk in new levels of obedience.
In 1 John 4:4 the apostle wrote, Little children, you are of God [you belong to Him] and have [already] defeated and overcome them [the agents of the antichrist], because He Who lives in you is greater (mightier) than he who is in the world.
The Greek word translated children in this verse as well as many others is partially defined as “darlings.”3God wants you and me to know that we are His little darlings.
In 1 John 4:4 the apostle speaks of defeating and overcoming the enemy. Once again, I believe we need to see that this is only accomplished as we come to God as little children — leaning, depending, relying, trusting, etc.
In Galatians 4:19, the Apostle Paul called the believers in Galatia, My little children, for whom I am again suffering birth pangs until Christ is completely and permanently formed (molded) within you.
Just as loving parents are willing to suffer for their children if need be, Paul was suffering persecution in order to preach the Gospel to th
ose he called his children. They were ones who had been born into the Kingdom of God through Paul’s preaching, and He longed to see them grow up and enjoy all that Jesus died to give them.
In referring to them as children, Paul was letting them know that he was ready to stand by them and do whatever was necessary, including suffering if need be, in order to see God’s purpose accomplished in their lives.
A good parent would rather suffer himself than see his children suffer. We see this “parenting principle” in operation when the Father sent Jesus to die for us, His children.
According to the Bible, childlikeness is our God-given, blood-bought right:
But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the authority (power, privilege, right) to become the children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name. …
John 1:12
The Spirit Himself [thus] testifies together with our own spirit, [assuring us] that we are children of God.
And if we are [His] children, then we are [His] heirs also: heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ [sharing His inheritance with Him]; only we must share His suffering if we are to share His glory.
Romans 8:16,17
Children are heirs; they are inheritors. Slaves are laborers; they do not share in the children’s inheritance.
Are you an inheritor or a laborer?
In Romans 8:21 the Apostle Paul lets us know that God’s children have glorious liberty and that one day … nature (creation) itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and corruption [and gain an entrance] into the glorious freedom of God’s children.
As God’s children we were never intended to live in bondage of any kind. We should be experiencing glorious freedom and liberty — freedom to enjoy all that God has given us in Christ. He has given us life, and our goal should be to enjoy it.
I am not speaking of selfish, self-centered enjoyment that cares only about itself and nothing else. I am speaking of a godly enjoyment — one that learns to have the approach to life and its situations that Jesus had — permitting enjoyment of everything!
Seek to become and remain childlike with all the simplicity of a child. It will enhance the quality of your life in a most amazing way.
A simple approach can change everything.
Try it, you will be blessed!
7
The Complication of Religion
… to as many as did receive and welcome Him [Jesus], He gave the authority (power, privilege, right) to become the children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name. …
John 1:12
Jesus has invited us to be in relationship — through Him — with God, the Father. Relationship and religion are entirely different things.
In society today the question is often asked, “What religion are you?” meaning, “What set of doctrines do you follow?” or, “What set of rules do you adhere to?”
When I am asked that question, I usually respond this way: “I am a member of a non-denominational Charismatic church, but I am not religious. I am in personal relationship with Jesus Christ.” Of course, I get some strange looks as a result of my answer.
Let’s examine these two concepts of religion and relationship to see the important difference between them.
Religion
A portion of Webster’s definition of religion is as follows: “Belief in and reverence for a supernatural power accepted as the creator and governor of the universe … A specific unified system of this expression.”1 Religion does not seem to be a very personal thing. There is nothing warm about the meaning of this word.
Here, religion is described as “a system.” I don’t want a system. The world does not need a system; we need what Jesus died to give us — we need life. Religion does not minister life to us — it ministers death.
Religion is complicated. There is nothing simple about it! It is what we can do to follow the system — the rules — in order to gain God’s favor.
A woman attending one of my conferences once shared with me the definition she felt God had given her for religion: “Religion is man’s idea of God’s expectations.”
The Pharisees in the Bible were religious. In fact, they were the religious elite of their day, and Jesus called them vipers (Matt. 12:34) and whitewashed tombs. (Matt. 23:27.)
In Ben Campbell Johnson’s interpretative paraphrase of some of the New Testament books, he refers to the Pharisees as “rulekeepers.” They made sure they kept all the rules, but they had neither mercy nor compassion, nor did they have a godly heart. They were rigid, legalistic, harsh, hard, sharp and pressing. They were exacting. To them, things had to be done a certain way or they were not acceptable.
That is a good description of religion.
Relationship
Webster defines relationship as “the state or fact of being related … Connection by blood or marriage: KINSHIP.”2
I already like the word “relationship” better than “religion” without even going any further. Just reading the definition of relationship makes me feel better. It sounds warmer and friendlier and has more life for me than what I read about religion.
In Ezekiel 36:26-28, God promised that the day would come when He would give people His heart, put His Spirit in them, cause them to walk in His statutes and bring them into a new relationship with Him:
A new heart will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall heed My ordinances and do them.
And you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and you shall be My people, and I will be your God.
We are now living in the availability of the fulfillment of that promise.
The Lord said that He would take away the stony heart out of man. The Law was given on tablets of stone, and I believe that laboring for years trying to keep the Law — and failing — will give anyone a hard stony heart.
Legalism makes us hardhearted.
Trying, failing, and continually being disappointed leaves us as cold and lifeless as stone, as Paul noted in Galatians 3:10: And all who depend on the Law [who are seeking to be justified by obedience to the Law of rituals] are under a curse and doomed to disappointment and destruction. …
The Lord has promised that we will be able to keep His statutes because He will give us a heart to do so, and His Spirit to make us able.
The born-again believer does not have to “try” to follow God’s ways, he wants to — he desires to. His motives are right.
My response to Jesus is motivated by what He has already done for me, it is not an effort to get Him to do something. I no longer try to please God to obtain His love. I have freely received His unconditional love, and I desire to please Him because of what He has already done for me.
What I have just written is very important. Look it over again and again. For me, it is the pivotal point between religion and relationship.
Religion Versus Relationship
In 2 Corinthians 3:6, Paul said that he and his fellow apostles were qualified … as ministers and dispensers of a new covenant [of salvation through Christ], not [ministers] of the letter (of legally written code) but of the Spirit; for the code [of the Law] kills, but the [Holy] Spirit makes alive.
I feel sometimes that religion is killing people. There are so many precious people who are seeking to have relationship with God, and the religious community continues to tell them something else they need to “do” in order to be acceptable to Him.
Don’t be offended by my use of the word “religion.” I realize that has been a popular, spiritual-sounding word for centuries. I am only trying to present a clear difference between an impersonal set of rules and regulations and a personal relationship with the living God.
Jesus talked of His personal relationship with the Father, and the relig
ious leaders of His day persecuted Him.
It amazes me how certain people always want to come against anyone who talks about God in a personal way or who thinks he has any power from God. It is obvious that Satan hates personal relationship with God and the power it makes available in the life of the believing one.
In certain religious circles, if you and I were to talk about God as if we knew Him, we would be judged and criticized. People would ask, “Who do you think you are?” Religion wants us to picture God as being far away — somewhere up in the sky — unapproachable by any except the elite of the Church. And, further, they want us to believe that He can only be reached through rulekeeping and good behavior.
This “religious spirit” was alive in Jesus’ day, and even though He died to put an end to it and bring people into close personal relationship with Himself, the Holy Spirit and the Father, that same spirit still torments people to this day — if they do not know the truth.
I loved God most of my life. I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior at age nine. The tragedy is that I never enjoyed God until I was in my forties. My entire approach to Him was religious. It was based on what I could do, not on what He had already done. I was a “rulekeeper,” a modern-day Pharisee. Not only did I strive to keep all the rules, but I insisted that everyone else follow my rules also.
When I succeeded, I was proud of myself. And when I failed, I was condemned. I was attempting to be righteous (right with God) through my works. I did not yet realize that all my righteousness would never be enough to justify me in God’s eyes: For no person will be justified (made righteous, acquitted, and judged acceptable) in His sight by observing the works prescribed by the Law. For [the real function of] the Law is to make men recognize and be conscious of sin [not mere perception, but an acquaintance with sin which works toward repentance, faith, and holy character] (Rom. 3:20).