JUMPING FOR JOY!

We’ve all heard the term before. There have been times in my life that I have been happy and excited about something, but I don’t think that I have ever been so excited that I have jumped for joy. How about you? We all understand the excitement that this term conveys, but I’m not sure if I have ever been excited to that point.

I just finished reading a book* written by a preacher, this book is about his three year old son who “died” on the operating table while undergoing emergency surgery for a burst appendix. The parents were told by their small town doctor that the child was only suffering from flu symptoms. Only after the poison of the burst appendix seeped into the boys’ body and only when he was at death’s door was the correct diagnosis made. For several years after the surgery, the boy began to reveal things about the time that he died, went to heaven and returned.

Even though all of the accounts of heaven that the boy revealed to his father are backed up by scripture, there is a tendency to doubt. Why? Possibly, because it has never happened to us or maybe because science says people don’t die and come back? But, I didn’t dwell on whether this actually happened. What caught my attention is that the boy spoke about heaven with a child’s innocence. The one account that got me to thinking was when the boy told his father that Jesus was so excited when the father was obedient and said yes when Jesus asked him to become a preacher for Him.

It’s been several days since I have read the book, but the one thing that I keep thinking about and dwelling on is that Jesus was so excited when the father was obedient and said yes to what Jesus was asking him to do. That tells me that we do have a choice to be obedient and when we are obedient, Jesus is excited!

Over breakfast one morning, I was telling my husband about this book and I asked him “if we knew that Jesus was excited about our choice to be obedient, wouldn’t we want to make sure that we are always obedient?” He said “yes, but if we knew, that would take away the faith factor.” My response was “who needs faith? If it makes Jesus happy, why wouldn’t we always want to be obedient, why do we need faith if we know that it makes Jesus happy? Who knows, maybe, Jesus even jumps for joy!”

And Jesus said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Matt 18:3-4 (NIV)

The above verse is usually interpreted as giving up our pride and accepting through faith that Jesus Christ did die for us. Since reading this book, I’ve been trying to see Jesus and God through a child’s eyes. God is my Father and just like any parent He wants me to approach Him as a child, His child. Jeremiah 29:12 tells us that when we pray to God that He will listen to us. What parent does not want their child to talk to them and what parent does not listen to their children? We can tell Him our problems but Matthew 6:8 tells us that He already knows our problems even before we ask. We can ask for material things, but Luke 11:11-13 tells us that like any father, God already knows our needs and He will always take care of them. Since we are assured that our problems and our needs will be taken care of, the only thing left for us to do is to seek a personal relationship by crawling up onto the lap of God and having a conversation with Him. The only way to do that is to become like a child seeking the comfort of a parent. When was the last time that you actually sought out God just to have a conversation with Him?

This week, I challenge you to seek God and His precious Son Jesus, not through the knowledge of an adult, but with the innocence of a child. I challenge you to be observant with childlike wonder at the many blessings in your life and in the surrounding creation that God has so graciously given to you to enjoy. I challenge you to be obedient and say yes to whatever it is that Jesus is asking you to do....I challenge you to make Jesus jump for joy!

Cindy

*Heaven is Real: A Little Boy’s Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back by Todd Burpo
Bible Verse taken from the New International Version
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