Faith 101 - Daniel J. Price - PDF
Transcript of Faith 101 - Daniel J. Price - PDF
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Faith 101
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Faith 101
By Daniel J. Price
http://www.faithwithwisdom.com
Tags: humility, faith, children, heaven, jesus, kingdom,
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Faith 101
At some time in their early childhood each of my children have
found themselves with a broken toy or something of significance to
them and each of them has said, Daddy can fix it. More often
than not they are wrong I cant fix it! It is usually some badly
made plastic piece or a specific part that I dont have the ability to
recreate or either the tools or know-how to fix.
However that doesnt stop them declaring that I can fix it, from
decapitated dolls to mangled Slinkys, they are sure I can make it
as new. Even after I havent been able to fix things the first few
times this happens they still declare I can fix things which I simply
cant. In fact my youngest two would often keep persisting that I
could fix it even after I told them I couldnt, they werent satisfied
until they saw me make at least some attempt to fix it. Myyoungest still declares I can fix things, even though I am sure that
more often than not I havent been able to fix her broken toys.
I was thinking about these experiences when I realised that there
was a connection here to our own relationship with God.
Before we get to the scripture I want to use here I should just say
that the passage I want to discuss here is often used to illustrate
faith, however some people would argue that the passage doesnt
talk about faith at all but about humility. If you are one of those
people dont stop switch off yet, because my view is that in fact this
passage talks about humility in order to show us the relationship
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between humility and faith. So lets look at the scripture in question
which is found in the first part of Matthew 18.
Matthew 18:1-51
1At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, Who, then, is
the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
2 He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them.
3And he said: Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like
little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.4Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the
greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5And whoever welcomes one
such child in my name welcomes me.
Now the background to this passage is that the disciples have
been arguing over who will be greater in the kingdom of heaven.So it makes sense that Jesus is teaching the importance of
humility to his followers, however I think he is saying more than
this, yes, he is also saying, as bible teachers the world over have
taught us, that our faith must be that of a child. Knowing about the
humility lesson though helps us to understand howwe can have
faith like a child. You see to my children when they were young,when they found something broken their first inclination was to get
their father to fix it, and not only that they also believed that I
could fix it. Why? Because they couldnt, and who does the things
for them that they cant do? Their parents! From our kids point of
view; Mum and Dad look after us, they do the things that we kids
1All scriptures references are taken from the New International Version of the
Bible, unless otherwise stated.
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cant do. In our family they assign the role of fixing things to their
dad, (which is a weird phenomenon in itself considering my low
success rate with fixing things) in other familys it might be their
mother, or their grandfather, or their older sibling, they see as
being able to fix things.
What then is our inclination as adults when things go wrong?
When we need someone to do something we cant? Who do we go
to? Are you starting to get the picture? You see I think Jesus is
saying to us that we need to accept that there are things we cant
do and we need our God to do them for us.
Humility as Jesus teaches it, is not about believing we are
inadequate. It is not about believing that someone else is better
than us. It is about accepting that there are things we dont know
and some things we cant do and that thats okay. Its about beingwilling to receive; willing to learn and willing to let someone else
help us. Namely God, but also by extension the people and beings
he created.
One of the concerns sometimes raised when this verse is used to
teach faith is that it might be misinterpreted as promoting blind,unquestioning faith. This is a valid concern and we need to
recognise that blind faith is not what Jesus is promoting at all, in
fact in using young children as an example Jesus shows that is
okay to ask questions, after all young children do. They ask lots of
questions!
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Eventually though all of my children, except my youngest lost this
strongly held belief that I can fix all things and my youngest is even
now starting to lose it. This is part of their growth and maturing to
learn that neither me, nor any other person can fix all their
problems. The challenge to us is to help young people maintain
their belief in God, to help them understand that while we, as
humans, are fallible their God is not. Where and when we cant
help them, God can.
This again calls for humility on our part, being prepared to admit
that it is not ultimately us that our children need, but God. In being
humble enough to recognise this we practise our own faith in God.
Faith through which we know that he can lead our young people to
Christ and that his Holy Spirit will walk beside them on their
journey through this world.
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References
Alexander, D. & Alexander, P. (Eds.), (1984). The Lion Handbook
to the Bible.Herts, England: Lion Publishing.
Barker, K. (Ed.), (1995). The NIV Study Bible. Grand Rapids,
Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House.
Brand, C., Draper, C., & England, A. (Eds). (2003) Holman
Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Nashville, Tennessee: Holman
Reference.
Davis, J.D. (1977). Davis Dictionary of the Bible. Grand Rapids,
Michigan: Baker Book House.
Goodrick, E. W., & Kohlenberger, J. R. (2012). The Strongest NIVExhaustive Concordance.Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan.
Thompson, F.C. (Ed.), (1988). The Thomson Chain-Reference
Bible: Fifth Improved Edition. Indiana, USA: B. B. Kirkbride Bible
Co., Inc.
Zondervan. (2010, November 1). Updated NIV Bible Text.
Retrieved from http://www.biblica.com
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About the Author
Daniel is married to Elizabeth and they live in New Zealand with
their four children. Daniel is the founder of Faith with Wisdom and
has experience as an educator, school principal and business
founder. He has qualifications in education, leadership and
theology. His interests include spending time with family, outdoor
pursuits, photography, running, reading and philosophy.
You can read more from Daniel at FaithWithWisdom.com.
Cover Photo 2014, Daniel J. Price. All rights reserved. About the
Author photo by Rae Cliff Photography 2014, D & E Price. All
rights reserved.