“Truly I say to you, unless you turn and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”- Matthew 18:3
In Chapter 8 of In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day, author Mark Batterson discusses how we can tap into that natural weirdness with which we’re born. His answer is to take Jesus’ advice to “become like little children”.
One of Pastor Batterson’s favorite words is neotany, as defined by Warren Bennis and Robert Thomas in their book Geeks and Geezers:
“Neotany is the retention of those wonderful qualities that we associate with youth: curiosity, playfulness, fearlessness, warmth, energy.”
Pastor Batterson adds that neotany is not just an indispensable quality of leadership, but it is at the very heart of what the kingdom of God means. Spiritual maturity involves becoming more like Christ and more like little children.
The author cites an e-mail from one of the small group leaders at National Community Church (he is the founding pastor) that captures the essence of becoming like little children:
“We internalize limits. We grow up and we grow old. What is worse, we become small people with a small God. I think part of Neos is regaining the limitlessness of youth. Regaining the idea that we have been created by a limitless God to have limitless dreams and imaginations.”
Today’s question: What might your future ministry or vacation look like if the possibilities were limitless?
Coming Monday: the Annotated Bibliography of In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day
Tomorrow’s blog: “Civilized or uncivilized?”
