Pride and the Kingdom of Heaven
From time to time my children will play with “new” toys. My wife has an ingenious system of rotating different toys into storage and out of storage to recreate a sense of excitement, wonder, and delight when a “new” toy emerges from a box. Sometimes, as often happens with children, the little ones are as excited with the boxes or containers as they are the new toy. They are delighted with the things they’ve been gifted with. There is a real sense of enjoyment observable among our kids as they play with their “new” toys, and the accompanying boxes.
Fighting Over Toys
The toys and boxes though wear off in their entertainment value. Soon there may be fights, or words spoken shortly, hotly, and with the full weight of pride behind them. A sense of superiority, self-importance, hubris, and arrogance can quickly take shape. “Gimmie” “that’s MINE” and “you give me that” becomes the verses and refrain of the song of self-importance.
Serving Our Own Self Interests
We, like children, often experience similar temptations. It doesn’t take much before temptation creeps into our daily priority list, and internal desires quickly flips from Loving the Lord our God, to serving our own selfish interests. How quickly we reach for things much loftier than what our Lord has willed for us, bemoaning the lofty realities he has gifted in Christ. George Whitefield preached convincingly on Christ’s teaching regarding little children (Matthew 18:3), and the Kingdom of heaven:
“Who Is the Greatest?”
The Evangelist tells us, “that the disciples at this time came unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” These disciples had imbibed the common prevailing notion, that the Lord Jesus Christ was to be a temporal prince; they dreamed of nothing but being ministers of state, of sitting on Christ’ right hand in his kingdom, and lording it over God’s people; they thought themselves qualified for state offices, as generally ignorant people are apt to conceive of themselves. Well, say they, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Which of us shall have the chief management of public affairs? A pretty question for a few poor fishermen, who scarcely knew how to drag their nets to shore, much less how to govern a kingdom. Our Lord, therefore, in the 2nd verse, to mortify them, calls a little child, and sets him in the midst of them. This action was as much as if our Lord had said, “Poor creatures! Your imaginations are very towering; you dispute who shall be greatest in the kingdom of heaven; I will make this little child preach to you, or I will preach to you by him. Verily I say unto you, (I who am truth itself, I know in what manner my subjects are to enter into my kingdom; I say unto you, ye are so far from being in a right temper for my kingdom, that) except ye be converted, and become as this little child, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven, (unless ye are, comparatively speaking, as loose to the world, as loose to crowns, scepters, and kingdoms, and earthly things, as this poor little child I have in my hand) ye shall not enter into my kingdom.” So that what our Lord is speaking of, is not the innocency of little children, if you consider the relation they stand in to God, and as they are in themselves, when brought into the world; but what our Lord means is, that as to ambition and lust after the world, we must in this sense become as little children. Is there never a little boy or girl in this congregation? Ask a poor little child, that can just speak, about a crown, scepter, or kingdom, the poor creature has no notion about it: give a little boy or girl a small thing to play with, it will leave the world to other people. Now in this sense we must be converted, and become as little children; that is, we must be as loose to the world, comparatively speaking, as a little child.
May we, in our Christian lives, continually possess an attitude appreciative of the great things promised and given to us in Christ. May the eschatological realities of eternity in Christ never grow dull. May we shun the temptations of proud ambition. May we grow in our wonder, amazement, and delight of Christ as little children.