Cycling is one of those sports in which the youngest riders are not usually the best. Not only does it take time to hone your skills as a professional cyclist, but it also takes time to develop the endurance and tenacity required to win a multi-day stage race, like the Tour de France. For this reason, most races have a category for the youngest riders that allows them to compete for a prize, in addition to the general classification victory.
In Matthew 19 Jesus turns things upside down (as he often does) by saying: "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." (Matthew 19:14) In his Kingdom we must all become like the youngest of children in order to be "winners." What does He mean?
There are many things about God and His Kingdom that make no sense to the people of this world, things like, "Whoever wants to be greatest among you must be servant of all." Things like, "Whoever want to save his life will lose it." Things like the Son of God willingly laying down His life for sinful people. There are truths about God that we will never fully comprehend. Like the Trinity, One God in three Persons.
That doesn't mean we have to sacrifice our intellects to become Christians. The Christian faith is the most reasonable faith of all. We can use reason to understand how a just God must punish sin, and yet the same loving God will sacrifice His own Son to take our punishment for us.
Nevertheless, unless we are willing to accept some truths in a simple, childlike manner we will never have the faith we need to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. A little child willingly accepts what a loving parent tells them as being true. God wants us to accept His Truth with the same kind of simple faith. Then we will be ready to receive eveything He wants to bestow on us.
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