3/6/23


"Like a Child"

And He said, "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven". - Matthew 18:3

Children are interesting.  By nature they are inquisitive, humble, trusting, joyful, and unbiased.

Children are curious, they are always asking why.  They are on a mission to learn, and they are open to listening to the wisdom of others in order to increase their own knowledge.  In Psalms King David said, "Teach me, Lord, the way of your decrees, that I may follow it to the end.  Give me understanding so that I may keep your law and obey it with all my heart."  God wants people to recognize that HE is God, and THEY are not.  He wants us to be humble enough to submit to His wisdom and to learn from Him.  

I used to lament that "life didn't come with instructions", but that was before I opened the Bible.  The Bible is full of wisdom and there are plenty of apps to help us learn more about God.  The trick is to actually USE them.  I like the YouVersion Bible app, the Our Daily Bread App, and the BibleProject app.

Children trust.  It's why we have to warn our kids not to go with strangers - because innately, they TRUST.  Unfortunately life will teach us that people are not trustworthy.  We deveop a cynicism and we often get to the point where we think that WE are the only people we can trust.  But remember the story from a few days ago when Abraham trusted God, and "He credited it to him as righteousness".  God does not want to be a stranger to us.  He wants us to trust Him, and when we do we will be "right" with Him.  However, the only way we can do that is if we let Him into our lives.

Children are joyful.  I remember an instance with my high school son, Max.  We were watching a few kids playing.  The children were absolutely joyful and completely unfettered by the worries of this world.  I asked my son when he thought that sense of joy went away.  He said, "middle school".  

I think Satan loves to use the worries of this world to rob us of joy.  When we lose faith in God and His provision, then we end up worrying about things that should not concern us.  Instead we should hold on to the truth written about in Matthew 6:26, "Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?"

Children are unbiased.  They do not see the divisions that so plague our world today.  They love all and reach out to all.  It is the adults in their lives that teach them to hate.

Today, let us seek and trust the wisdom of God.  Let us trust in his provision, and let us love one another without reservation.

Like a Child



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