Matthew 18:4 | THe Humble Are Great
Matthew 18:4 ESV says, “Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
The kingdom of God is an upside-down kingdom. Or perhaps the better way of saying that is that the pattern of the world is the upside-down of the kingdom of God. Have you ever considered that our perplexity with the ways of God comes from our familiarity with the agendas of the world? When I say the world, I am referring to the systems and beliefs built in God's absence.
This can become a bit of a chicken and the egg scenario, so I won’t try to propose a particular origin story.
It is helpful to think back to the beginning. Sin entered a perfect world through disobedience. So we can see that when we look back to the beginning of God’s design, it was all in order, and we have been trying to get back to it for a long time.
I love the way Jesus uses children to model the kingdom of heaven. Kids learn how to misbehave quickly, but they begin their life journey in innocence and purity. They are humble because they have nothing to prove. So in a way, they are greater than us adults because they have innate freedom.
Of course, we need adults and fully functioning humans to survive in this world, so Jesus is talking about a spiritual posture: humility.
Consider that in this verse, humility is not the rejection of greatness; it is the path to greatness. There is no reason to believe that God does not want his people to be great, but our understanding of greatness has to be transformed from the world's standard to the kingdom's standard.
So I am leaving you today with a question to ponder: What is it about childlike humility that makes the kingdom's greatness different from the greatness of the world?
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