In my last article I wrote that becoming like a little child involved not having a cognizant history of past failures. I illustrated this using a small child being coaxed to let go of the table and taking the few steps to Mom’s outstretched hands. I pointed out that the child was not hindered by the thoughts of yesterday’s attempts that ended in falls. The child’s past did not influence his present.
While talking about this concept with my wife, Sandy, she pointed out that a little child also has no cognizant future. Returning to the same illustration, the child does not think that if he/she takes those three steps to his mom that it could lead to his/her someday running the Boston Marathon or climbing Mt. Everest. He/she is not scheming how current choices will influence the future. A little child lives in the present.
This insight regarding the future is perhaps even more important than the one regarding the past. I recently read that the greatest obstacle to our living fully in the present is expectation about future outcomes. I know it is true that if I approach a weekend away at the beach with my wife full of expectations, I am usually disappointed. On the other hand, if I go away with her with a simple excitement about discovering what the weekend holds for us, the long walks on the beach, a dinner while watching the sunset, or even sleeping for 14 hours straight are all phenomenal. I’ve learned to enjoy a current adventure with my wife without a load of expectation, but I have not been nearly as successful with the same concept when dealing with my Heavenly Father.
Most of the major decisions I have made in my life were based on analyses of how I thought my choices would ultimately affect my future goals. Not very childlike! And guess what …nearly none of them have turned out the way I thought they would.
When you really stop and think about Adam and Eve in the garden (pre fruit experimentation), they were not capable of evaluating the possible consequences of a decision on future events. They did not understand good and evil, i.e., good choices versus bad choices, a bright future versus a dim one. They were not created to even make those kinds of analyses. They were in that way like little children.
What they were designed for was to live in the present. To live in the present with God. They were designed for what I would call intimate obedience. Walk with God today, talk with God today, and just be obedient today. Intimacy and obedience. No 5-year goals. No worry about how obedience to this or that will affect your future. No fear based on past failures. Nothing but intimate obedience.
I think that perhaps the “current gospel” has gotten a little polluted. Come to Christ and be successful. Accept Jesus and discover your destiny. Be empowered by the Holy Spirit to make your 5-year plan work. Sounds a little post fruit of the knowledge of good and evil to me.
What Jesus really wants from me is intimate obedience. I know it is easier said than done. Believe me – I know. Sometimes I want to say right along with Nicodemus, “How is a man born again?”