Childlike Innocence
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Losing Our Innocence
But today I wanted to share one last devotion with you all about childlikeness. I think one of the saddest parts of watching a child grow up is their loss of innocence. Parents have to deal with seeing their child begin to use their free will in less than good ways.
Of course, parents have to teach their children right from wrong, good from bad… and instil in them a desire to honour God and do good. Jesus said “Be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” (Matthew 10:16 NIV) Now, many people in this world are shrewd as snakes. But the truth is: nobody is initially innocent as a dove! Everybody, the Word of God teaches us, is fallen. Every human being has had their innocence broken by sin.
But the good news is this: there is a remedy. We need to be forgiven of our sins – through faith in Christ’s death on the cross. And we need to be cleansed of our sinful ways – through faith in the infilling of the Spirit.
We can be shrewd as snakes by satisfying our curiosity and growing and learning. But we can only be innocent as doves if we are forgiven, and cleansed by the Spirit of God. Cleansed by His grace. The power of sin broken in our lives. Blameless, as we go on living holy lives by his grace.
True Holiness
Keith Drury has written a wonderful book called Holiness for Ordinary People. This is a book I would recommend to all of you. It changed my view of holiness, and was a pivotal factor in me leaving my previous denomination to come to a holiness church such as the Church of the Nazarene.
He writes this in his book:
After several hours of hard work in his hot garden, a father glanced up to see his two-year-old toddling toward him with a glass of water. The father takes the glass, examines the smudgy fingerprints on it, and then takes a sip. The water is tepid tap water. But when he looks down at his son, he sees him gazing up at him in admiration and absolute devotion. What will the father do? The good father will gulp down the water and thank his son for “bringing Daddy that perfect glass of water.” This boy’s deed has fallen short of the perfect standard of ice water but the boy has completely fulfilled the royal law of love. His act was a perfect act because it sprang from perfect love. The boy is blameless.
Then he says Much of the service we offer to Christ is like that smudgy glass of tap water; it falls short of absolute perfection. Yet our heavenly Father looks into our devoted eyes of adoration and pronounces our works blameless. This is the kind of perfection God promises: a perfection of love.
Innocence! We may fall short of the perfect standard – in fact we will fall short of the perfect standard all the time. But we can be blameless and innocent when we serve Him with all our hearts and leave behind our lives of sin. A child doesn’t perform altogether that well, but their purity of intention is unmistakable.
Come to God today. Bow before him and ask for forgiveness and cleansing. Receive his forgiveness and cleansing in faith. And then live with that purity of intention that he asks for, and when you present to him your smudgy glass of water, he will look at your blameless innocent face, and smile.
