Childlike Love
Scripture Reading — 1 Corinthians 13:11-12
When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.
—1 Corinthians 13:11
When I was a pastor in Minnesota, our church had a preschool in its facility. One day the preschoolers paraded past my office door. We smiled and waved to each other. They were on their way to the church kitchen to bake gingerbread men. After returning to their classroom, a worried preschooler asked about me, “After those gingerbread men are done baking and start walking into his office, will he eat them?” Actually he asked, “Will Mrs. Kevin eat them?” He figured that since his teachers were Mrs. Van De Riet and Mrs. Larsen, I must be Mrs. Kevin.
We laugh at the logic of children. We think it’s cute the way preschoolers think. They have learned a lot, but there is still so much to learn.
But our “adult” knowledge too is partial and incomplete. We know some things, but we have a lot of questions. We often say that when we get to heaven there are things we will ask Jesus, or Paul, or some other biblical character. But it’s quite possible that when we get to heaven we will realize that on earth we didn’t even know the right questions to ask. Issues that tear denominations apart here on earth might in heaven be totally unimportant. We may find that much of our great earthly knowledge is unimportant compared to the “surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus [our] Lord” (Philippians 3:8).
Father, we know only in part. As we wait until the day when we will see you face to face, give us humble, gospel grace to love one another. Amen.
About the author — Kevin Adams
Dr. Kevin Adams has served as a church planter/pastor in the Sacramento, California, area since 1991. He and his wife, Gerry, began Granite Springs Church in Lincoln, and this congregation has helped to nourish several other church plants. Kevin also serves as a director of the Sierra Leadership Network, a training program for new church leaders.
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