Do you get sick of me talking about my son? I do it in the pulpit with great frequency but Landon also occasionally worms his way into my blog because God uses the little man to speak to me on a regular basis. Most of us parents and grandparents see “something special” in our little ones and I think that is perfectly reasonable, even good that our own kin have a special place in our hearts and minds. I have to say that I’m not the only one who sees this in Landon though. Beyond Amy and the grandparents and aunts, his teachers and leaders at church tell me with zeal that he’s an interesting boy…on many levels. For those of you not sick of me talking about him, let me share something profound that happened last night on the way home from church. Alicia and I were discussing the message that the youth speaker shared from the text below. I’ll use the translation of the bible he used.
“If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.” – Luke 14:26-27 {New Living Translation}
A surface reading of that passage can leave one a little confused about what Jesus was saying. When Landon overheard the front-seat conversation between me and his big sister, he chimed in with a few questions as his little mind sensed the tension between what he knows of Jesus and what he had just heard that Jesus said. The word ‘hate’ is where he struggled so I took a few minutes to explain that Jesus was not teaching us to live in hatred but, instead, teaching that His followers must be so unwaveringly loyal that, if a decision had to be made between choosing family or following Christ, then the decision would need to be to follow Christ. I told the little man that such extreme loyalty to Christ back then often resulted in somebody losing their family if they became a follower of Jesus. To remain loyal to Him, one’s love for Christ would make one’s love for family appear to be as hate as the committed disciple would choose Him over blood-ties. In this sense a Christian must hate his family and his own self if he is to live in loyalty to Jesus Christ.
There were a few moments of complete silence in the car and I knew Landon was rolling this over in his mind. Finally, his little squeaky voice said, “Daddy, that’s a hard decision. That’s the hardest decision I’ll ever make in my life.”
Yes, Landon, you are absolutely right. It is the hardest decision for all of us. I am astounded that my first grader comprehends that a commitment to Jesus Christ is all or nothing and can never be considered lightly. Fortunately for our family, that potential separation from one another is not an option because we will all follow Jesus Christ by faith. Yet we certainly have other things that we must forsake one decision at a time as God leads us deeper. What Landon does not fully grasp is that verse 27 above is the hardest part: taking up your own cross and dying to selfishness as you live for Christ. Let there be some hearty and convinced Amen’s to a little boy’s declaration of “Daddy, that’s a hard decision…”
I have very little to add to his conclusion…and pray for you and I to be afforded great grace to make Landon’s statement our own. We don’t need to merely confess it. We must embrace it.
AMEN!!! By the way, I never grow tired of the Landon stories. From day one, the first time I laid eyes on Landon, I felt a special affection for him even though he hid behind Amy’s skirt and stared at me from afar as though he was thinking one of two things: she’s little or she’s real cool. Finally, he warmed up to me and VBS 2011 provided me with an opportunity to bond with him. He’s been my buddy ever since and I am so very awed by his wisdom. If we all could be like the little children, Jesus’ I believe would spend less time interceding on our behalf.
I love hearing about your precious little boy Landon. I also do enjoy his “Landonisms” you share. He is a very astute little boy and out of the mouths of babes come truths straight from heaven that we can never deny. Christ uses him to give us all thought about our relationship with Him and what it means to be His child!
I enjoy hearing about your son — as a mother of two grown sons, I can certainly appreciate what you face on a daily basis! There is an old saying “out of the mouth of babes”, there are so many life lessons we can learn if we listen to our children and then listen to what God is telling us through them! We serve an amazing, awesome. loving God!!
Mavis, thank you for your encouraging words. Thanks also for being a faithful contributor to this ministry. May God richly bless you for your investment in the Kingdom through Transforming Truth.
Blessings,
Jeff
I pray he has the Godly Gene of daddy passed down to him.
like you have said in past, children see God thru their parents.
or Not See God, thru how they live their lives before them.
Let’s pray he see’s the God whom loves his daddy and wants
that kind of relationship with his ‘heavenly’ father.as his earthly
father had.