Sep 19 2008
Oh to be like a child
When I was was teaching in Thailand I was asked to substitute for a teacher who was going on a holiday. I was going to teach the Bible class for first graders. The story was about Jesus’ first miracle, turning water into wine.
Before I began telling the story I spotted two clear plastic cups on the teacher’s desk. I grabbed them to use as models. I filled the first cup with water and when I came to the part where Jesus ordered to fill the jars I poured the water to the second cup. To my surprise the water turned red in front of our very eyes. Then one little boy from the back shouted, “Teacher is Jesus! Teacher is Jesus!”
The other cup had a dried dye which I didn’t notice when I first took them because it neatly settled at the bottom. Of course I had to tell the them what made the water changed color. But the eagerness and willingness to believe what the child saw and shouted it for everyone to hear is what touched me the most.
How many of us would be as brave as that child who mightily shared what he had just seen? Like the cripple who was healed by Peter who went walking and leaping. He couldn’t contain his gladness in his heart he was praising God on the street (Acts 3:6).
I’m not implying that we be like the child who would be shouting what he believed he saw. It’s his inocent faith. Period.
May we be like a child in our faith.
