Remember being a child? I often look back on those days and sometimes I wish to go back. My brother David and I loved to play cowboys. We would play from early to late all up and down the street we lived on. We played on the hill across the street. We played in the vacant area behind the house. We played in the neighbors yards. I love remembering those days.

Behind our church was a creek. To get to the creek we had to cross a field, then a fence, then another field and another fence. Most of the year the creek was dried up or it only had a trickle of water in it. When we reached the creek we would go west about three hundred yards we would find a large washed out area. When the creek ran high it would come in a big curve and sweep under a large maple tree. Part of the roots of the tree just stuck out into clear air. The water action had created a washout in the bank that was about six feet below the roots of the tree. Years before someone had tied a large rope to a limb of the tree. We loved to get up on the side of the hill and run and swing out over the wash to the other side and then back again. I think of it with great fondness and wish I could go back to being a kid.

Then I come to my senses. I remember that being a kid wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be. I remember my Dad loved spinach. He also had a philosophy that we all lived by, if Mom cooked it and put it on the table, you ate it. That was it, just be thankful you had it to eat and eat it. So when she fixed spinach we had to eat it. I hated spinach! It made me gag! My body rejected it! Seriously! So as a child I ate a lot of spinach because it was better than the alternative.

I don’t know how many weeks of my young life were spent on restriction. It seemed like we were always in trouble and getting put on restriction. I’m telling you being a kid isn’t all that it is cracked up to be. I remember being on restriction one time for two weeks. We were off one day and did something we shouldn’t have, I know it is hard to believe but it is true, and we were back on restriction again.

The worse was getting a spanking. My Dad was a kind gentle man and he didn’t spank us very much. However, he had this philosophy, who said he wasn’t a philosopher? His philosophy was, if I am going to do it I might as well do a good job so I don’t have to do it again. Mom’s philosophy was, there were two philosophers in our house, I will emphasize every word with a swat after I have lectured for an hour, then I will lecture for another hour. Oh yah being a kid is so great! No thanks!

A while back I had been teaching a young man a Bible Study when he asked me to explain a passage of scripture. The passage was in Rom 8:34, “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us” His question was concerning Christ being at the right hand of God. He said that when he read this passage he saw Jesus standing before God asking for our forgiveness.

At that moment we were unable to continue our discussion because of time restraints. I remember walking back into the house, from my office, and going to the kitchen where I got a glass of water. I looked out of the window and in prayer asked the Lord to help me to explain this passage so this young man could understand what Paul was saying. Now I have taught many Bible Studies on the Oneness of God. I have studied and taught on the significance of the term “right hand.” However, I also believe with all of my heart that a true understanding of God, who He is and what He has done for us, comes only by revelation. I needed something from God to speak to this young man that would give him a revelation of who God really is. Little did I realize God was about to give me a revelation of who he really is!

I felt the Lord speak to me and ask me, “Do you remember when you were a kid?” This was a funny question, but He had my attention. He continued, “Today you are a parent, a father. You have rules in your home which you have explained to your children. There are things that you expect them to do, things they have received instruction about. As a father when they do not do what you have told them to do, or when they break the rules, in your justness you punish them. Many times it is for safety or to prevent future endangerment and troubles that you punish them. Sometimes you are angry because you have told them more than once not to do something or to do something and they haven’t listened. When you have been angry and have gone to punish them do you remember when you were a kid and messed up? Does that kid that you were begin to talk with you and say hey you know what it is like to be a kid and mess up, have mercy! So you have mercy, it doesn’t make you less powerful nor do you lose your authority, but it does make you more understanding and compassionate. It makes you a true father.

Well, I know what it is like to be a man. I know what it is like to struggle with all the things that man has to struggle with. When you fail and have done wrong, the man that I was reminds the God that I am to have mercy. It doesn’t make me less God! It just makes me more true God.”

I began to weep and rejoice. The passage in which this scripture was written took on a brand new meaning. I had a true revelation of who God truly is and what he has done for me.

Paul from Romans chapter five through chapter eight is speaking of our relationship with God. He talks about how much God loves us. He speaks of how special we, the blood bought children of God, really are to Him. He tells us we do not have to live in condemnation. He assures us that all the things that happen in life can be used by God to mold us into the image of God. He reassures us of God’s love in that we have been adopted. He ends his message telling us there is nothing that can separate us from the love of Christ. Then just before making this last statement, Paul tells us that God understands what it is like to be a man because He became a man Himself. When He sees our short comings and failures, He remembers what it was like to be a man.

Forgiveness is hard for us to accept. After we have gotten past making excuses for ourselves and our failures, we have a hard time accepting forgiveness. We think we should have known better and that is probably true. We realize that it probably wasn’t the smartest thing we have ever done, which again is probably true. Sometimes it was just plain laziness or weakness, both of which we have a harder time accepting forgiveness for. Yet the main reason that we have a hard time accepting forgiveness is because we have a hard time forgiving ourselves. If we can’t forgive ourselves then who can forgive us.

In the eighth chapter of Romans Paul is calling this condemnation. That is being found guilty with out hope of forgiveness. The beautiful thing that Paul says here is by asking this question, who has the right to condemn us? Only Christ has that right and He died for us. He is busy remembering what is was like being a man so he is not condemning us, he is loving us!

I guess it is good to remember being a kid. Not just remembering all of the fun but remembering the time I told Dad that I had lied to him. Remembering the big tears that filled his eyes as he put his arms around me and forgave me. Remembering him helping me to deal with the problem I had lied about. That moment helped me when I dealt with my own children. Thank you Lord for telling me to remember being a kid.

God Bless!