We’re Just His Kids

Do you remember some of your favorite activities when you were just a kid?  You know, climbing trees, hopscotch, jump rope, playing dress-up?  Just take a minute to remember what it was that you loved to do.  Maybe it was playing with Barbis or Hot Wheels?  We were all kids at some point.

Kids Know How to Have Fun

I am a mother now and I have 3 little boys.  Right now they are ages 4, 7, and 9.  My boys love to catch frogs and lizards and toads.  My boys love to jump on the couch, if I would allow it, that is.  They love to swing as high as possible on our tree swing and they love to go swimming!  Being little boys, they love to wrestle, and when they are wrestling they look like little bear cubs on our living room rug.  When they go outside, if there's a tree to climb, my eldest son will be the first one to the top.  They are kids! They are lighthearted and driven to have fun!  Sure they have homework and chores but they know without a shadow of a doubt, what it means to enjoy life!  My kids are so loved, they know that Jesus loves them and they know that their Mama and Papi love them too.  They are secure in our love and therefore they get to truly experience abundant life!  

Abundant Life

Can you imagine living like my boys? Don’t get me wrong, they can still do their share of grumbling and complaining.  But they know how to live and let go for sure.  Can you imagine living an abundantly joyful life, right now as an adult?  What would that take?  What would it take to not be bogged down by adult responsibility?  Maybe you are already living an “abundant life” like the bible says in John 10:10.  If so, that just warms my heart because the more the merrier!  

But what is an abundant life?  For me, I have to say that I would describe an abundant life as having complete confidence and assurance of my salvation and knowing that God is a good Father and that he loves me no matter what and that I have been set free from not only the penalty of sin but also its power.  Then on top of that I actually get to experience peace and joy and love that is not only infinite but that surpasses all understanding.  I get to live a life free from bitterness because I know that I am fully forgiven by my Heavenly Father and therefore I can offer that infinite forgiveness and love towards my husband, children, family, friends, and even my enemies.  An abundant life means being at rest knowing that God truly wants what is best for me, taking into consideration my desires and needs, and also that he is with me and will carry me in his peace and love even in the most difficult and hard times of life.

Growing Up Out of Focus

But life was not always this way for me.  Maybe you feel how I felt about life up until 4 years ago when I first heard the GOOD Gospel.  Even though I was a Christian I had become so focused on all the yuck and all the things in my life that needed changed.  I was very “sin” focused and I believed all the lies the enemy, aka the devil, was feeding me.  Maybe you feel the weight of the world on your shoulders because you have so many bills to pay, you have to keep going to a job that maybe you don’t love, the dishes and laundry never seem to end, and maybe you are like me in that there are so many things in your life you want to change that it seems impossible.  Maybe you wish you could quit drinking, or binge eating.  Maybe you wish you could quit getting so angry at your spouse and children.  Maybe you wish you would finally start exercising and you’re so tired of all that guilt and shame that keeps plaguing you.

The bible says that “unless we become like little children we shall not enter the kingdom of heaven”, Matthew 18:3.  Some of us don’t feel like little children.  I gotta be honest with you.  Before I had kids my whole life revolved around fun and the next fun thing I could do!  It often involved hanging with friends, traveling, going to the beach, jumping off cliffs, hiking and biking, and you get the picture.  Maybe I was even a small-scale adrenaline junkie.  But then the older I got the more adult responsibilities started to weigh on me and suddenly I started to feel old and tired and I became a little uptight.  All of a sudden I’m the guy going around the house saying “turn these lights off”, “shut the door, the heat's on”,” we need to hurry up it's almost bedtime”, or “if you don’t eat all of your vegetables you are not getting dessert”.

Becoming Like Little Children

Oh boy, this bible verse of “changing and becoming like little children” started to seem even more impossible!  More impossible that it had even seemed when I was young and such a FREE spirit.  What people never knew about me is that internally the weight of the world WAS always on my shoulders.  The weight of my sin and shame.  I was constantly weighing and measuring my own behavior.  Ugh!  Exhausting!  Because of it I struggled with depression for years and years.  Even to the point of suicidal thoughts…literally on and off for years…at least 20 years.  I would live for these moments of fun but then when it was over, I was often left feeling empty and hopeless.

One of my favorite books in the bible is 1 John and this book describes how we are God’s children.  We’re his kids.  He is a Father, a LOVING Father, and we’re his kids.  It is possible to live a life with a wellspring of joy and a life that is abundant.  4 years ago my life completely changed when I heard the FULL message of the Gospel of Jesus.  For the first time in my life I actually could understand that in Jesus Christ, the yolk IS easy and the burden IS light (Matthew 11:30).  The chains of shame, self-condemnation, addiction, fear, worry, hopelessness were broken!  The Gospel of Jesus breaks EVERY chain! And if you haven’t experienced abundant life as a believer, then maybe you haven’t quite heard the whole Gospel.  I am not proposing a life without trials and tribulation but what I am suggesting is that internally you can have what Isaiah 12 is describing here!

Isaiah 12

 3 Therefore with joy you will draw water

From the wells of salvation.

4 And in that day you will say:

“Praise the Lord, call upon His name;

Declare His deeds among the peoples,

Make mention that His name is exalted.

5 Sing to the Lord,

For He has done excellent things;

This is known in all the earth.