Have you lost the wonder?
Vance Havner, (1901-1986) an old southern preacher, preached a sermon entitled, Have You Lost The Wonder? In that sermon he refers to an evangelist by the name of Gypsy Smith. Here is what he says about him…
Gypsy began to preach at 17 and died at the age of 87. He was simple, original, and colorful. He said he was born in a field so don’t put me in a flowerpot.
The President of Fleming Revell, the publishing company who used to publish Gypsy’s sermons asked him one time, “What is the secret of the freshness of your preaching well into your eighties?” And Gyspy replied, “I have never lost the wonder!”
Jesus says in Matthew 18: 3 that unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Havner speaks of us not becoming childish, but childlike in that children have “not lost the wonder.” They “have not been here long of enough to get used to it. There is still a sense of surprise. Anything can happen. Everything’s new. With a child, every turn of the road may hold some new discovery.”
As I thought about Havner’s sermon, I began to ask myself of whether I have lost the wonder of knowing God? Do I stand at awe at the grandeur of His holiness? Do I marvel at His amazing grace exhibited on the cross?
For me, it’s easy to work at knowing so much about God, which I hold to be very important, that at times, I forget how marvelous the truths are that I am discovering. I should remember that even how I discover what I know about God should be held in wonder as that too is by His grace.
My prayer is that I not “lose the wonder” today and not take the grace of God for granted. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever (1 Timothy 1:17).
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