Only by God’s providence was I born in a country where hope can become a reality. It makes me no better or worse than anyone else, it is simply a reality.
However, I have travelled to many places where the opportunity for hope, like mine, just doesn’t exist.
I remember a couple of decades ago ministering in a developing country following an attempted coup. A nighttime curfew had been enforced, and gatherings were very closely watched. Still, our worship services were powerful and stopped right on time for those who risked coming to the meetings.
As I visited with my host, I asked,
“Besides Jesus, and with all that is happening now, what is your hope?”
He answered,
“Our children.”
His hope was that their children, all the nation’s children, would make a difference in changing their world. They would see the world they inherited and work to make it change.
I have thought on that many times since.
Maybe that’s another reason why Jesus said we were to become as little children. We too, are to recognize the sinful world we have inherited and by God’s grace and giftings grow up and make a change in our part of the world.
Aged-experience can make us hopeless, maturity can make us cynical, but the hope and innocence seen in a child’s eyes is what the Lord has called us to—all in His name,
