Smart as a Four-Year-Old

At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, "Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me.” (Matthew 18:1-5 ESV).

The following four questions were developed to determine ability to think progressively. The questions are not difficult. Answer each one in turn and then look at the bottom for the answers.

1. How do you put a giraffe into a refrigerator?
2. How do you put an elephant into a refrigerator?
3. The Lion King is hosting an animal conference; all the animals attend except one. Which animal does not attend?
4. There is a river you must cross. But crocodiles inhabit it.
How do you manage it?

All done? Here are the correct answers.

1. Question #1 - Open the refrigerator, put in the giraffe and close the door. This question tests whether you tend to do simple things in an overly complicated way.
2. Question #2 - Wrong Answer: Open the refrigerator, put in the elephant and close the refrigerator. Correct Answer: Open the refrigerator, take out the giraffe, put in the elephant and close the door. This tests your ability to think through the repercussions of your actions.
3. Question #3 - Correct Answer: The elephant. The elephant is in the refrigerator. This tests your memory.
4. Question #4 - OK, even if you did not answer the first three questions, correctly, you still have one more chance to show your abilities. Correct Answer: You swim across. All the Crocodiles are attending the Animal Meeting! This tests whether you learn quickly from your mistakes.

I hope this little exercise was fun. According to Anderson Consulting Worldwide, around 90% of the professionals they tested got all questions wrong. But many preschoolers they tested got several correct answers. Anderson Consulting says this conclusively disproves the theory that most professionals have the brains of a four year old!

It is interesting that we tend to make things much more complicated than they really are. No wonder Jesus used children so often as an example of how we are to accept the truths of God. That’s the real lesson from our reading this morning. It is with childlike faith that we find true forgiveness. Trust in Him. He will not disappoint you! You don’t need to “figure it all out”!