Faith Like A Child

"And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." --Matthew 8:13

I have had the absolute privilege of watching three children respond to the Lord's calling over the past few months, both of whom live in homes with luke-warm parents. What I have witnessed, the transformation that is, has been indescribable. I have never really understood the verse I posted above until I was able to witness these young children, all of whom are under the age of eight, surrender their hearts and lives to Christ.

These small children were so thrilled that this God, this mighty King loved them enough to send His Son to die for them and all the "bad things" they had done and in turn make them "perfect" in God's eyes. The precious words spouted forth from their mouth, "I believe" were priceless. It was that response and the difference in their attitude as their face lit up with joy that I saw a piece of God's glory.

As I pondered what children had that adults did not possess, or why Christ would make a comment like this, I realized that much of this child-like faith involves humility. We see the next verse says, ""Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven". Christ is referring to a topic, or an attribute that seems to be lost in most adults today, that of humility.


Ravi Zacharias puts it well:
Brennan Manning spells it out this way, "For the disciple of Jesus 'becoming like a little child' means the willingness to accept oneself as being of little account and to be regarded as unimportant," and may I add—that God is of great account and of utmost importance.

When I look across the landscape of the New Testament I see a church that believed in a Christ who was bodily raised from the dead. They believed it because they had adequate evidence and testimony for it. And when Paul says, "The just shall live by faith," it is because God's character and "faithfulness" is such that we can bank on his promises. When we cry out to Him in humility, He will hear us. Mature Christians believe in Christ because he is true and is an explanation on which all of life and reality can be based.

Let us do away with this cultural misconception that "childlike faith" equals "intellectual simplicity"; and let us walk boldly forward as humble children of God into the wisdom and greatness the Kingdom of God affords.