(and our dependence on Him): Following Christ for Exhausted People
Growing from an Adult into a Child
For most of my teen years I was an atheist. When I came to Christ in my early twenties a lot of that youthful arrogance stayed with me. I thought I was pretty special. In my thirties I started to see, at least a little bit, how God is greater than I am. I would often ask Him to help me with my plans. And most of my plans were for my own benefit in one way or another. In my forties I started to see myself as more of an adolescent compared to God. I still asked Him to help me with my plans but I was starting to see how much I needed His help. In my fifties I started to see myself as more of a child compared to God, and I started to ask God if He would allow me to participate with Him: in His plans. Now I’m in my sixties and I see myself as a tiny child, and I feel more dependent on God than I ever have.
Littleness Leads to the Blessing of Dependence
In her book The Little Way, St. Thérèse writes about how she desires to remain “little.” And how by remaining as a little child of God she can live a life dependent on God.
Jesus Himself said we have to change and become like little children. (Matthew 18:3)
And Jesus himself lived in a state of dependence on God. “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord,” Jesus said. (John 5:19)
Just How Little Are We?
Why, over time, do so many of us become more and more aware of our own littleness in comparison to God? And just how little are we in comparison to God? When I think about those questions, I think about the biggest, best, most complex things I’ve ever made. That might be a big beautiful house I built one time (most of which involved Kathy and me managing contractors). Or it could be the Love Like Jesus book I wrote (most of which comes from the life and teachings of Jesus and the ideas of other Jesus followers).
And then I think about what God created.
God, the Creator of all things. He is the One who created the neutron star, a teaspoon of which might weigh somewhere around 6 billion tons. He is the One who created the flea which can accelerate twenty times faster than the space shuttle. He is the One who created the human beings who built the space shuttle. He is the Creator of the caterpillar that metamorphosizes into a butterfly. And He is the Creator of the Butterfly Nebula (pictured at the top of this article). He is the One who created atoms, and the protons, neutrons, and electrons that make up atoms. He is the One who created the quarks that make up the protons and neutrons. (A quark is maybe the smallest thing in the universe.) And He is the One who created the Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall (a structure made up of galaxies that may be the biggest thing in the universe).
Who am I in comparison to a Being who created all of that? Who am I in comparison to the One Who created me? I’m like the flea compared to the man who wrote the article about the flea accelerating faster than the space shuttle.
Little Offerings
St. Thérèse is so right when she says:
I am a very little soul who can offer only very little things to our Lord.
Recognizing her littleness and her resulting self-surrender was St. Thérèse’s secret to offering whatever little flowers she could to Jesus.
Lord help me, and help the dear person reading this right now, to recognize how small we are in comparison to You. Help us to become like little children before You. And help us to please You and bless You and delight You with whatever little offerings we can lay before You.
Help us in our weariness and exhaustion.
Help us to recognize how You cherish these little gifts of ours.
In Jesus’ name we ask this of You.
Amen.
Kurt Cameron Bennett best known for his book Love Like Jesus. After attending church and studying the Bible for most of his adult life, he was challenged by a pastor to study Jesus. That led to an obsessive seven-year deep dive. After pouring over Jesus’ every interaction with another human being, he realized he was doing a much better job of studying Jesus’ words than he was following Jesus’ words and example. The honest and fearless revelations of Bennett’s own moral failures affirm he wrote Love Like Jesus for himself as much as for others. He currently lives in Hillsboro, Oregon, just a few miles from his son Gabe, daughter (-in-law) Charise, and grandson Andrew. He has another son Nate and daughter (-in-law) Anastasia who live in Sammamish, Washington. His blog, God Running is a place for anyone who wants to (or even anyone who wants to want to) love Jesus more deeply, follow Jesus more closely, and love people the way Jesus wants us to.
Featured Image from images.nasa.gov
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