Day #4: When did you forget how to fly?

[If you want to know how and why this devotional came into existence feel free to read this]

What you will need: 

• A Bible
• This Devotional
• Some Coloring Utensils
• And a print out of this awesome coloring sheet designed by Nic Mansfield (Instagram and twitter)

Theme: Nostalgia (Self Reflection)

Passage for March 4th 2017: Matthew 18:1-5

Bars from “Same Drugs”: 

Wide eyed kids being kids
Why did you stop?
What did you do to your hair?
Where did you go to end up right back here?
When did you start to forget how to fly?….
Don't you color out
Don't you bleed on out, oh
Stay in the line, stay in the line
Dandelion

A Thought:

My main perception of children is that they are inherently innocent or untainted. Children’s greatest virtue is their naivety. And as they grow up learning about the darkness in the world, it erases their innocence to such a degree that they become a perpetrator of evil. This inevitable downward spiral is the tragedy of growing up. And while this may be true, this is not Jesus’s vision of children. For Jesus, childlikeness is not about innocence but trust. 

From Jesus’ time to now, children have no choice but to trust those who care for them. They do not have a way to provide meals, money to pay rent, or wisdom to help them navigate the world’s complexities. Kids must depend on their parents to feed, protect, and give them the resources to navigate everything life has in store. In Jesus’ kingdom it is childish trust, not inherent innocence, which weaves together the cultural fabric of His Kingdom. It is a posture of total reliance on Jesus’ heavenly Father that he is asking his followers to emulate. Things haven’t changed much. Today, as it was in Jesus day, total dependence on anything other than ourselves is considered “lowly. “

Derived from the philosophy of modernity, we are taught from the earliest ages to be autonomous. We must be self-sufficient, self-governing, self-reliant and self-made. To be dependent means to go against the nature of what it means to be human. Autonomy becomes the philosophical “lines” we are encouraged to conform to and must not color out side of. While Jesus wants us to take responsibility for the things he calls us into, he is not saying we do this from the resources of our sheer human ability but rather a posture of trust in him. As we walk into Jesus’ Kingdom with this “childlikeness,” we begin to experience the freedom which is its result. 

While our world may continue to try and rob us of our freedom by forcing us to color inside of the lines, Christ is saying it is never to late to trust him. It is never to late to learn what it means to have the child like freedom to fly.

Mediation: Luke 15: 8-10

This is the last day of this weeks coloring page.  Read the passage. God wants you to turn to him. It brings him and immeasurable amount of Joy. Have a conversation with God about how have not trusted him. Allow him to speak to you so you can re-learn “how to fly.” When you are finished feel free to share your finished page online with one thought you took away from your reflection this week. Tag it with #mycoloringbookforhisgreatness so we can see what the Lord is teaching you.