"Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me..."Simplicity is a beautiful thing. This past week my family and I were snowed in at home for almost two days. We have a long driveway and the house is some distance from the road (generally we cannot even hear the traffic). Add two feet of the snow, and the driveway becomes impassable.
The forced-seclusion actually worked well as it enabled me to get much studying done for upcoming sermons. But, of course, there still was the task of actually getting out of the house eventually. So....we started shoveling...and shoveling...and shoveling. Even after a local plow service gave aid there was still much shoveling to do.
As I was outside working (yes, shoveling), I took a moment to look around. It was a bright, sunny day and I was surrounded by the beauty of a forest covered in snow. Everything was white, with patches of green. From almost every view it seemed like I had stepped back in time. It was like this 50 years ago. It was like this 150 years ago. The simplicity of the landscape was its beauty.
Jesus is saying something about faith in this passage. I believe we need to 'renew' our minds, and try to gently nudge my congregation towards a robust, informed, meaningful faith. But we can never forget that there is a beauty in simple things.
Jesus is telling us never to forget that simple element of faith that exists in all believers. Christ is calling us to be mature sons and daughters, but he is also calling on us to possess a simple, child-like faith. Satan can storm our minds and caste doubt in our thoughts. But what can he do to our child-like devotion to Jesus? The more you hurt a little child the more she screams for her mother. With the simple faith of a child, the more difficult life becomes the more we will desire the presence of our Lord.
The simplicity of this faith is its beauty.
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