Sandy and I are part of a weekly prayer time in Colorado via speaker phones. Last week while praying about a man looking for a job and us trying to sell our house in California so we can move back to Colorado, someone prayed something to the effect of “God, this would be a good time for you to…”  The phrase caught on in that anointed way a few words can in a prayer meeting. We repeated that phrase several times during the meeting.

What we were saying is that, in the midst of the economic mess that seems to be going on in the world, this would be a very good time for God to receive glory by intervening in our lives. They were not selfish prayers. They were based on awareness that in the midst of difficult times God’s goodness can really stand out when he comes to the aid of his people. The phrase stuck in my mind and I have pondered for a week whether it is biblical or not. 

What did Jesus expect us to learn from the 40+ miracles he did as recorded in the Bible? Can we first agree that there are probably multiple layers of things he wanted us to see? He said that the healings and exorcisms he performed were to destroy the works of the enemy. They account for about 2/3 of the miracles recorded. But what about 10 times he just did sort of random things like walking on water or cursing fig trees? The theologians will remind us that these were done to demonstrate his power over natural elements. Yeah okay, but what did he think I would take away personally from reading about turning water into wine, or finding tax money in a fish’s mouth?

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.

There are a few Bible verses that have always bothered me. You can probably figure out which one I am going to refer to in this article by its title. What frustrates me about this verse is that I don’t know what to do with it. Tell me to love my neighbor as myself and all kinds of images of how I could act differently flash through my mind. But…
 
“And he said: ‘I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.’” - Matthew 18:3 (NIV)

I can’t work up a single image of what that might look like if I tried to live it out. I can much more easily identify with what Paul said in 1 Corinthians – “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.” Yeah, I’ve  grown up and know how to act and think like a man. I can figure my way through things. But…

I don’t read that many things that upset my world. But I did the other day.

“The first service one owes to others in fellowship is to listen.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together

You know what ran through my mind when I read this. The first service one owes to others in community is to listen. The first service one owes to others in leadership is to listen. The first thing I owe in my relationships is to listen. The first thing I owe my spouse is to listen. The first thing I owe my friends is to listen. The first thing I owe others in my small group is to listen.

The first thing I need to learn how to do better is to listen.

I went to a meeting later in the morning after having first read this statement. It probably wasn’t particularly fair to everyone at the meeting but I could not help but observe that meeting through the lens of this startling idea.