“Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.’” (Matthew 19:14).
My eldest son’s favourite flavour is vanilla. He likes vanilla ice cream, vanilla-flavoured cakes, vanilla custard and vanilla-flavoured cookies. Where all the other children will chose bubble-gum flavour or chocolate or “rainbow” for the look of the thing, that child has always wanted plain old vanilla.
I really do not mind the taste of vanilla but I rarely chose it as my first choice. In my experience there are so many other unusual flavours to try and taste that I do not waste an opportunity to try something new on plain old and familiar vanilla.
And I have been thinking about why that is. You see, vanilla is used as a flavouring in many different types of treats. Vanilla is added to most cakes and cookies to compliment the other flavours of the recipe. In fact, wherever I add eggs to a sweet dish, you will invariably find me adding a splash of vanilla essence – if not vanilla itself. And that underlying element is almost – at times – bland to me.
And that is what has occupied my mind today because it occurs to me that that same level of blandness – of vanilla-ness – is creeping into my religion.
We live in a society that values political correctness. We value inclusion and – as a society – we value, in a way, blandness or vanilla-ness.
And while inclusion in and of itself is an extraordinarily wonderful thing, it is certainly not our end goal.
Christ in fact was not actually inclusive. Now, I know that sounds like blaspheme, but it is actually true. Christ never once said EVERYONE is getting into Heaven. He never once said, EVERYONE is going to be saved. He deliberately EXCLUDED people who refused to follow His Way and Take up their Cross and Follow Him. He deliberately chose to explain that souls enter Heaven by the “narrow gate”… “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14).
And this means that I cannot practice my faith and my religion in a bland way – in a vanilla way. It means that I must keep in mind that the Kingdom of Heaven is not prepared for everyone, it is prepared for “such as these”… And THESE are the little children, “Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.’” (Matthew 19:14).
And why children – because everyone was once a child. And that means that God’s intention is to include everyone, but through my blandness – through my vanilla-ness – I chose to walk the wide path. And that path does not lead to the narrow gate, and I will be lost.
So, today, I pray for the Grace to become one such as THESE for my God…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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