Today we are continuing our series about the importance of investing in others, especially younger generations. We’ve talked about beginning that investment by making sure our faith and relationship with God is something worth passing on to others. We’ve also talked about sharing God with others as we go about our days and surrounded ourselves with reminders of God and His Word. We’ve been looking at Deuteronomy chapter 6 and what God said about investing in the next generation in those verses. Today we are going to pick up in verses 10-13 which say:

“Then it shall come about when the Lord your God brings you into the land which He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you, great and splendid cities which you did not build, and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and hewn cisterns which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and you eat and are satisfied, then watch yourself, that you do not forget the Lord who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall fear only the Lord your God; and you shall worship Him and swear by His name.”

While these verses contain some specifics about the Israelites and what would happen when they entered into the Promised Land, the principle and warning apply to us as well. God knows us, His creation, well. He knows that as He provides for us and blesses us, like He was about to do with the Israelites, that we have a tendency to become complacent and take things for granted.

Just like the Israelites were going into a land where they would have all sorts of good things that they did not work for, we often have blessings in our lives through no effort of our own. We don’t control where we were born or who are parents are, yet both of those things often establish aspects of our lives. God, directly or through others, often blesses us in so many ways. Sometimes we recognize those blessings, and other times we are so focused on what He hasn’t given us that we miss so many of the good things He has. Oddly enough, the more blessings we have received, the more it seems that there is a temptation to take the blessings for granted and either ignore God’s generosity in our lives or be discontent and disappointed because we expect more.

God knew this about the Israelites and He knows it about us as well. That is why we see His warning and command in verses 12-13: 

“then watch yourself, that you do not forget the Lord who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall fear only the Lord your God; and you shall worship Him and swear by His name.”

As we are following God and seeking to invest in others, we need to remember this. We need to stay focused on God. It is so very easy to get distracted by life’s demands, pleasures, and disappointments. This is something that we struggle with and something that those we are investing in will struggle with too.

We need to be intentional about not forgetting God and what He has done for us. Some of that starts with surrounding ourselves with reminders like we talked about last week, but the very act of investing in others also helps us to not forget. If we are spending time teaching others about God and His commands, it makes it easier for us to stay focused on God. It also helps the next generations learn more about Him too. When we leave it up to others to share God’s message with those He has placed in our lives, we aren’t just neglecting them. We aren’t just neglecting to do what God has told us to do. We are also neglecting our own relationship with Him. We are neglecting our ability to not forget Him and all that He has done in our lives. The more the tell our story, our God story, the better we remember it ourselves.

God’s design for investing those around us is amazing just like Him. Doing what He has asked us helps others, helps us, and helps our relationship with Him. So don’t forget. Who will you share your God story with today? Who will you invest in today?

As we explore the idea of Discerning Wonder, it would be a huge oversight not to talk about the wonder of children. In the very first article on this website we talked about the meaning of the word wonder.

WONDER - a feeling of surprise mingled with admiration, caused by something beautiful, unexpected, unfamiliar, or inexplicable.

No one express this true feeling of surprise and admiration better than a young child. Young children seem to naturally live in world filled with wonder. Everything is new and amazing and remarkable to them. They get excited about the little things we have learned to take for granted.

When we are talking about Wonder, we would definitely be better off if we recaptured some of that child-like amazement about the things around us. In the middle of frustrating traffic, if I would take a deep breath and wonder about the ability that we have to drive down the road, even if it’s at a crawl, I would be a little better. Wonder doesn’t change our situation, but reminds us of the beauty and blessings around us.

Just like we can so easily lose our wonder in day-to-day life as we get older, we can lose our wonder in our spiritual lives as well. We can begin to take for granted how amazing God is and how wonderful His works are. This is yet another area where we would be wise to recapture the wonder of children.

We are not alone in needing to learn this lesson. Matthew, Mark and Luke all tell about the disciples seeing Jesus shining like the sun and talking with Moses and Elijah and then hearing the voice of God. To say that the disciples encountered something “beautiful, unexpected, unfamiliar, or inexplicable” would be an understatement. Each of the three accounts says that they were “terrified”. You would think that with this amazing and powerful experience, the disciples would be reminded of the greatness of God and filled with wonder for days, but just like we often do, they quickly forgot and moved on to other things. Very quickly after each of these accounts, these three gospel writers tell us that the disciples had begun talking, or maybe even arguing, about which one of them was the greatest. Really? Didn’t they just see that God is the greatest? Oh how quickly we lose our wonder! Matthew 18:1-6 describes what happened next like this:

“At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, ‘Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, and said, ‘Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.”

So, just as they are arguing over which of them is the greatest, Jesus tells them that they need to become like children by humbling themselves. Child-like wonder begins with humility. Everything is new to young children. They are constantly learning and don’t think they’ve already got it all figured out. They are easily impressed and excited by the things they see and experience. We need more humility. We need to remember that we don’t have it all figured out. We’re not God and we don’t need to pretend like we are. We need to keep learning. We need to stop and actually take in what God is doing and has done all around us. When we do that, then we will be impressed and excited and filled with wonder like little children. Humility leads to wonder and wonder leads to gratitude and worship.

While these words are easy to say and grasp, they aren’t always easy to remember or put into practice. Once again we see that we are in good company because in Mark 10:13-16 just a short time after this conversation about having humility and being like and receiving children in Jesus’s name this happened:

“And they were bringing children to Him so that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, ‘Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.’ And He took them in His arms and began blessing them, laying His hands on them.”

The words “He was indignant” always make me smile a little. He had just had this conversation with them and they clearly didn’t get it. Of course He was indignant. As amusing as I find those words, the ones that catch my attention even more are these: “for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these…whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.” It makes me ask myself, “Am I humbling myself and coming to Him with child-like wonder to receive the Kingdom He is offering?”

1 John 3:1 reminds us not only of God’s great love for us, but that we are His children:

“See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God, and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.”

Let’s live (and wonder) like His children today!