Serenity spent the weekend with me at the Nebraska District Assembly for the Church of the Nazarene. It’s one of my favorite things to attend. It’s where I received my first pastoral license and where next year I will officially be ordained as an Elder of the church.
On the last day she decided she didn’t want to go to her class. She wanted to stay with me. While our District Superintendent gave his report…she grabbed my Bible and opened it.
She can’t define the words “redemption” or “sanctification” or “restoration” or…well you get it.
And she even recognized the name Jesus! In fact the moment she saw His name she shouted with absolute Innocent joy!
Not because someone told her to. But because she wants to. Because in her little spirit…she senses there is something alive on those pages.
We often think spiritual maturity is measured by age…or degrees…or how many Bible verses we have memorized or how many church services we attend. We even measure our spiritual maturity by how we say “the right things.”
It’s not childishness (is that a word)…it’s child-LIKENESS!
A heart that trusts and truly loves…eyes that wonder…hands that open the Bible…not out of habit…but to be captured by the pages.
When Serenity grabbed my Bible I suddenly became overwhelmed with emotion. She tuned everything out (sorry Pastor Dustin)…and just searched for words she recognized.
So maybe today we need to take her lead.
Maybe we need to silence the noise around us, slow our thoughts, and pick up the Bible for the first time or the thousandth time with the same curiosity that Serenity had.
Not to master it…but to be mastered by the One who wrote it!
And maybe today we can simply whisper…God, help me see You in these pages again.
