Holy Boldness

without it.

Are you Teachable?

One of the reasons God esteems childlikeness is because children are imaginative and capable of learning new things. They do not already have everything figured out. They are still trusting and receiving and experimenting. As people grow older they have more experiences to consider. As people age, teachability tends to wane. As the saying goes, “It’s hard to teach old dogs new tricks.” That is essentially what Jesus was highlighting when he said that a person must become like a child if they wanted to enter the kingdom of God. Would you say that you are more or less teachable today than you were twenty years ago? Are you open to seeing new things? Often people’s experiences in life make them bitter and closed off. They take hardships personally and conclude that God does not love them and that no one can be trusted. People learn to be independent. They often isolate and build a little fortress of tightly held beliefs intended to protect them from anything new. They have already assimilated their brand of truth and all things get evaluated by this standard. One of the greatest hindrances to discerning the Fear of the Lord is fear. People walk in darkness, not in light because they are actually afraid of being wrong and therefore are afraid to learn anything new. Many so-called Christians believe that they are serving God acceptably when in reality they are serving themselves. They have a set of “beliefs”, even so-called Christian beliefs, and they are deceived into believing that a set of doctrinal statements will allow them to pass the ultimate test. The superficial inevitably miss the point of what God is getting at. People thought they knew God but the teaching of Jesus exposed their super ficiality. Even Jesus’ own disciples had to overcome their assumptions about the will of God. Some responded in humility but many went away offended. God reveals His truths to the simple and the humble, i. e. the babes. Truth comes naturally to a child because they do not already hold a set of beliefs that contradict it. God has determined to ensure that the simple-hearted are given a personal advantage and an inside track into the ways of God. This is the ultimate “inside track.” And a huge consideration. The upside-down kingdom of God and His ways are being given the upper hand. “A little

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