celebrating with a child-like faith

yesterday, i was teaching my cell group for the first time. while i was preparing the materials for it, i found the true meaning of child-like faith.

i came across the book, "the holy wild" by mark buchanan. and i love that book! especially the chapter, "a testimony of a leaf". it's the really good part, talking about how thanklessness has been the root of evil in the world. he recalled a time when he was evangelizing in kenya, africa. he didn't want to attend a service because the music produced by the worn-down, old, deformed instruments were squawky. but during the service (which he reluctantly went to), there was a lady who testified powerfully, rejoicingly, faithfully, about one new shoe she had been praying for three months.

yeah. a shoe
not one pair of shoes.
just one shoe.

that's child-like faith.

remember when you were kids? if you are given something to play with in your hands, you would hold it with such fascination that you wouldn't want to let it go? or when you receive a sweet, and your face will brighten up with a radiance that will never go away?

but as we grow old, when we receive one sweet, we demand for the whole package. if we receive a bike, we demand for a car. if we receive a cake, we demand a buffet. almost everything is not appreciated now. Jesus spoke in John 4 to His disciples about the food that He eats. the disciples were complaining that they were hungry, and wanted something to eat. but Jesus took the chance to say that He is not hungry, because saving someone's soul is enough to keep Him satisfied.

when we want something badly, we always look through our eyes, scheming through your "a-z list of compromises and reasons". we find reasons for getting a better car, a better watch, a better brand of clothing line. we don't appreciate what's in front of us anymore. we look beyond that with our eyes of reasonings so that we can get more than we have. our souls keep telling us that we need them to socialize, to do well in this world, to be the "better person".

here's the fact: materials do not make you a better person. it's one of the cause for jealousy, and it kills and buries that child-like faith you have in your heart.

look at the africans for example. they don't have much. but when they get something, they rejoice! why? because they know it's a blessing. like what irvin (or ko irvan, i can't remember) says yesterday in cell, what small things are given to us become a usual thing in our lives. blessings become another thing we can buy with our moneys.

but the africans, they don't have money. things are "bought" by prayer. things are given through prayers. and they literally see blessings falling in front of them from heaven. it is because their eyes are not blinded by reasonings or materials. in fact, they are shone by the light of grace from God.

i salute the africans and they deserve my prayers of blessings! i pray that you will be a nation where the Lord Jesus will dwell in forever! may your hearts please the God almighty forever and ever! =)

"worthy, worthy, of my child-like faith, of my honest praise, of my unashamed love, of my holy life, of my sacrifice, of my unashamed love."
- lyrics of "unashamed love" by travis cottrell