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“At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

He called a little child to him and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.”

From a young age, we become accustomed to people around us asking us to change. Our parents, teachers, and the world in general ask us to change things about the way we look, think, speak, behave, and even believe.

Even as adults, we probably have bosses, doctors, media personalities, perhaps spouses or friends (hopefully kindly), and probably mostly ourselves, telling us that something about ourselves is in need of a change.

And change is not easy. Change takes work. So, when we truly want to change something about ourselves, we engage in it. We put effort and work into it. If we want to be healthier, we work at dieting and exercise. If we want to have better relationships, we put our hearts into it. When we want to be better at our jobs or our sports or our hobbies, we push ourselves to pursue them with diligence.

Jesus tells his disciples, “Unless you change...you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

And change is very hard, indeed. But here is what we sometimes forget about Jesus’ words, here:

The change that Jesus speaks of indeed takes work. But this work is not our work. It's God's work.

Jesus alludes to God working in us. God humbling us. God changing us.

In baptism, in holy transformation, day after day, God does God's holy work. It's not our effort that sanctifies, but God's.

"Unless you change..." Jesus says.

Well, tell that to a baby in the womb: "Unless you keep growing and changing, you're never going to get born! You better keep it up!"

Thank God, that God's work in us is a work of grace. And God's grace is irresistible. We have the absolute promise of the kingdom of heaven because God's Spirit making us what we need to be in the end is a sure thing.

 

May that sure gift of grace, that promise of the kingdom that is complete in Christ, inspire our daily life on earth.

 

Pastor Beverly Struckmann