Jesus is Fun to Be With

Jesus is fun to be with. Children thought so. They loved being with Jesus, and he loved being with them.

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me" (Matthew 19:14). Jesus invited the children to "come" to him just as he invited Peter to come to him by walking on the water (Matthew 14:28-29).

Jesus invited the children to "come" to him just the way he invites us, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). In simple childlike faith, humility, dependence, we come to God and follow Christ.

As complicated as life can become and as complicated as the Christian life can become, Jesus draws us to consider the simplicity of a child. We respond to his invitation to "come" to him.

I find the invitation of Jesus warm and welcoming and inviting. He invites me to spend time with him, talk with him, be with him, walk alongside him. With him I receive focused attention all the time. No rush. No hurry. Never too busy. Always available. Easy to be with, unless I have sin piling up in my life. But even there, he unties me from things that bind me. And he unwinds the knots of strain and stress. He releases me into freedom and joy. Jesus is fun to be with.

Jesus says, "Come to me. Come to me as a little child. Come with innocent faith, simply trusting. Come with humility. Be real. Learn of me. Lean on me. Depend on me. Just come to me."

Has it been too long that you have come to God as a little child? When was the last time you crawled into Jesus’ lap as a child? Can you recall the last time you let God love you?

Remind yourself what you were like as a child. Spend time with children to learn again the heart of a child. Return again to that simplicity. Jesus is fun to be with.

Transformation for Every Decade

I remember my father telling me that every issue in his Christian life needed to be revisited when he was in his fifties and taken to a deeper level. I concur.

Theological issues that I resolved as a younger believer, I have had to wrestle with in more thorough ways. Personal issues that I overcame as a younger Christian, I have had to re-overcome. Spiritual disciplines that I locked in as a younger disciple, I have had to revisit and relearn.

My conclusions: We are always growing -- theologically, personally, spiritually. And our God is able to meet our needs at every decade of our lives. And the result is a deeper transformation.