Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Progressive Christian
Childlike Wisdom

Childlike Wisdom

Last updated on: November 19, 2018 at 11:30 pm by Keith Giles

Childlike Wisdom 2018-11-19T23:30:04+00:00 Keith Giles

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

It was about 9 years ago. I was sitting in the floor of our den, surrounded by our house church family, and one little boy from our neighborhood who had started to join us, along with his even younger brother and sister.

His name was Parker, and he was six years old, going on 26. Smarter and sharper and more clever than any other six-year-old I had ever met before.

The first person to greet us when we had moved to this new house, and this brand-new neighborhood, was Parker. He was standing in the driveway when I opened the door to the moving truck and he followed me all day long, and into the evening, as we sat around with our friends eating pizza, surrounded by boxes and moving dollies.

One thing I always loved about Parker was his ability to cut through the nonsense and get straight to the point about everything.

That particular Sunday, he was asking me rapid-fire questions about God, the Bible, Jesus and pretty much anything that we started to talk about. Not to be disruptive – at least I really don’t believe so – but out of a sincere child-like curiosity.

We were talking about Creation, for some reason, and Parker started asking about Adam and Eve. “So, are you saying that every person on Earth came from the same two people?” he asked.

“Yes, that’s what the story tells us,” I explained.

He only paused for a quick second and then he said, “Then that means that every single person alive is all from the same family!”

I smiled. “Yeah, that’s right, Parker. We’re all one big family. But we don’t act like it, do we?”

Parker thought about it a bit longer and then he said, “Maybe people just don’t know about this. I mean, I didn’t know until you just told me!”

In that moment, I really wanted to hug him so hard. I wished that more people could grasp this simple, yet profound truth the way Parker just did.

Out of nowhere, I said, “Once you know who your Father is, you can never forget who your brothers and your sisters are.”

So, then I started to tell Parker the Parable of the Good Samaritan. He got it right away. I didn’t have to explain anything to him. “So, that Samaritan knew that this man on the road was his brother. That’s why he stopped to help. Those other guys didn’t know about it, but he did.”

This is why Jesus said that the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these and that, unless we come to Him as little children, we will never enter the Kingdom of God.

We are all one big family. There is no “them.” There is only “us.”

I wish more people understood this the way my friend Parker did that day.

Sometimes it’s really good to be reminded of it, even if you thought you already knew it already.

At least, I think that’s true.

Don’t you?

Keith Giles was formerly a licensed and ordained minister who walked away from organized church 11 years ago, to start a home fellowship that gave away 100% of the offering to the poor in the community.

His new book “Jesus Unbound: Liberating the Word of God from the Bible”, is available now on Amazon and features a Foreword by author Brian Zahnd.

He is also the author of the Amazon best-seller, “Jesus Untangled: Crucifying Our Politics To Pledge Allegiance To The Lamb” with a Foreword by Greg Boyd.

Keith also co-hosts the Heretic Happy Hour Podcast on iTunes and Podbean. He and his wife live in Meridian, Idaho, awaiting their next adventure.

BONUS: Want to unlock exclusive content including blog articles, short stories, music, podcasts, videos and more? Visit my Patreon page.

Discipleship

Following Jesus

God's Love

Gospel of the Kingdom

Preemptive Love

Previous Post

November 15, 2018

Thankful Every Hour

Next Post

November 19, 2018 In Defense of Brian Zahnd

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Art Biblicism Christian Politics Cosmic Christ Deconstruction Discipleship Dispensationalism Divine Unity Ekklesia End Time Stuff Eschatology Evergreen Following Jesus Gender General Christian Topics Gnostics God's Love Gospel of Judas Gospel of Mary Gospel of Philip Gospel of the Kingdom Gospel of Thomas Gospel of Truth Hell Historical Jesus Inner Circle Investigative Reporting Islam LGBTQ Issues Marriage Mental/Emotional Health Mystery Non-Duality Philosophy Podcast Poetry Politics Poverty Preemptive Love Prophecy Psychology Quantum Theology Racism Reconstruction Satire Sex Technology Theology Uncategorized Universalism

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does Paul say he does not do the good he wants to do, but instead does?

Select your answer to see how you score.

The evil he does not want to do What leads to death What is sinful What displeases God

Books by This Author Books by Keith Giles

See All Titles »