Part 2 of the manuscript for "Rooted Faith - Grow Down" (continued from yesterday...):
I remember one day, when I was particularly exhausted from all of my “grownup” responsibilities like bills and expenses and deadlines and some important “grownup” decisions, I snapped at my son because he was (if you can believe this) singing and jumping in the living room. I barked at him, “Sometimes I wish you would just grow up!” My son put his head down and with his bottom lip out and he glanced at me with the most hurt eyes. If he could have articulated himself I imagined him saying, “Do you want me to grow up so I can be like you, Dad?” I could tell he was devastated by my grownup tantrum. And I asked myself, who was the real man here? Me with my childish response… or my son who took the brunt of my sin upon himself, and yet he didn’t say anything.
Look, we live in an environment that entices us to adulterate our lives. In the peer-pressure of the grown-up world we are drawn away from a pure connection with the Source of our life. God. We are pulled away from our zeal for goodness; from our grasp of genuine joy. Our eyes move from a faithful confidence in God to a worried impatience and to relentless tasks. And we sacrifice a faithful relationship with God for a fractured one while we pursue other desires and diversions. AADHD: Adult Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder! How childish are we? If adultery means unfaithfulness to your first love, then grownups are guilty of living adulterous lives in terms of our faithfulness to God. We are much too distracted, much too enticed, much too selfish, and much too impure. And this is why I am concerned about my son growing up.
This week I asked Ben what he wants to be when he is grown up and he said “a firefighter”. I asked why… and he said because it would be fun. There is a reason why Jesus said we should have faith like a child. Matthew 18:2 –
“Jesus called a small child over to him and put the child among them. Then he said, “I assure you, unless you turn from your sins and become as little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. Anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who trusts in me to lose faith, it would be better for that person to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around the neck.” (NLT)
Thrown into the sea with a millstone around the neck! Jesus says that if you cause a kid to grow up and become adulterated in their relationship with God, then it would be better for you to be thrown into the sea with a millstone around your neck. If you mess with a kid, you are messing with the original God-Father!
A mature faith should be child-like… it should be innocent… it should be joyous… it should be simple… it should be zealous for God and life… it should be dependent upon and focused upon Jesus… it should enjoy God’s word and God’s presence all the time… it should seek after him and obey him. A mature faith should be unadulterated.
So my prayer for my son today isn’t that he grow up. My primary desire for my son as he grows older is that he will be a man of God who will grow down.
For the full audio version: 2009-06-07 Rooted Faith - Grow Down - Ken Castor
