When my sister and I were little
girls, we liked to swing. I especially
liked the swings my Daddy hung from a limb high up in a huge tree in our
yard. It wasn’t like the little metal
swing sets. If you wanted to swing high
on those, you were in danger of turning the whole set over. The swings Daddy hung from the limb were
sturdy boards supported with strong chains. We could swing as high as we wanted
to with no limits! Our goal was to swing
so high that our toes would touch the leaves on the branch above us. We
achieved that goal often, and it felt like we were flying!
When is the last time we have tried
to reach the limb above us? When we grow
up, we lose our childlike qualities. And
certainly we are supposed to mature as we gain wisdom and experience, but there
are some qualities from our youth we need to reclaim for the kingdom of
God. Coupled with wisdom and experience,
they can be dynamic.
The solid foundation of those swings
provided us the liberty to go higher than we ever had before with the small
swing set. A firm foundation in God’s
Word and the experience we gain as we walk with Him provide us with the liberty
to be free in God’s kingdom. This world’s foundation is like one of those
little metal swing sets. It will give
way from underneath us.
On one occasion, Jesus’ disciples
asked Him, “Who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” “He called a little child and set him before
them, and said, ‘I assure you and most solemnly say to you, unless you repent
[that is, change your inner self – your old way of thinking, live changed
lives] and become like children [trusting, humble, and forgiving], you will
never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is greatest in the
kingdom of heaven.’” (Matthew
18:3 Amplified Bible) Children live in simplicity. They live life in its purest form seeing the
beauty of God’s creation, trusting, and free from the worries of this
life. They have no ulterior motives and
no agenda. They take life as it comes.
In another passage, Jesus said, “I
assure you and most solemnly say to you, whoever does not receive and welcome
the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.” How can we be childlike and yet mature
Christians? After all, Paul wrote to the
Ephesians “that we should no longer be children, tossed to and
fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in
the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting.” (Ephesians 4:14) If we look at some of the typical
qualities of children, we can see where we need to be “as a little child”, not naive
or foolish, but childlike. Living life
in its purest form, trusting our Heavenly Father and free from worries.
Jesus spoke of the humility of
children. They are not arrogant or hypocritical. They don’t pretend to be what they are
not. They are real. What you see is who they are inside and
out. The quality of being real in this
generation is almost lost in the drama of social media and ‘reality’ TV
shows. As adults, we tend to try to
please those around us at the risk of displeasing God. We need to be real
through and through, in our worship, in our relationships, in our homes, in our
churches. God knows who we are, no
matter how we try to hide it.
Children are forgiving. If there is a disagreement between them, it is
usually forgiven and forgotten within minutes.
They don’t naturally carry a grudge or allow bitterness to form in them.
We need to relearn that quality. As adults
we tend to carry a lot of baggage that we are not designed to carry. If we want
to be forgiven, we must be forgiving. It
cleanses our souls of bitterness and resentment. Jesus said, “But if you do not
forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your
trespasses.” (Matthew
6:15)
Another trait of children is that
they are trusting. Little children depend on their parents and don’t worry
about things. They don’t worry about how
the bills will be paid or where the next meal will come from. Children don’t
hesitate to ask for what they need, and they sincerely expect to receive it. They go to their parents and say, “I’m hungry;
feed me. I’m afraid; protect me. I’m cold; shelter me. I’m hurt; heal me.” Their dependence is not on their own abilities,
but in the one who is taking care of them. How different we become as
adults. We feel the need to be
self-sufficient rather than running to our heavenly Father. Of course,
Scripture teaches us to work to provide for our families, but we don’t have to
worry about things. We can trust Jesus. He
said, “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we
drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’… For your heavenly Father knows that you need
all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,
and all these things shall be added to you.” (Matthew 6:31-33) Do we
trust Him?
There are no limits in a child’s mind. Their imagination becomes the reality of
their own world where they can slay the dragon or overcome all odds to become a
princess. In their minds they are strong
and can run fast, so they don’t hesitate to run in the race. They hardly notice that they came in last,
because they were too busy running. The
kingdom of God needs to be our reality, not this world. We need to be so busy
running His race that we don’t know who came in first. When we begin to read God’s Word and let it
soak into us, when we open our hearts and minds to God’s Spirit in us, we have
no limits. Oh, as we get older we feel
physical limitations, but the Spirit of God in us has no limits. The Holy
Spirit can still plant thoughts and ideas into our minds. We just need to catch His vision, then run
with it.
Children are curious, inquisitive
and open. They are geared to learn…and
to ask a lot of questions. They don’t
just want you to tell them how to do something, they insist “let me do
it!” Knowledge isn’t enough. They want to experience it. When is the last time we asked God “what are
You doing? Can I help? Can I be part of
it?” That’s how Isaiah became a
prophet. He went to the temple and was
in the presence of God. It was there he heard God say, “Whom shall I send? Who
will go for me?” Isaiah said, “I’ll go. Choose me.”
(my paraphrase) When is the last
time we entered into God’s presence, felt His heart, heard His voice, then
volunteered to work with Him? To go
where He goes, speak what He speaks and do the works He does? When we are
hungry for God’s wisdom and righteousness, we will pursue Him and He will equip
us. Then He sends us to the field to
work out that knowledge, and there we get experience. Then we can train others.
Most children are adventurous. They don’t weigh out what people will think
if they do a certain thing. They just do
it. They take a risk and don’t even
realize it is a risk. They have no idea
what protocol means, much less follow it.
Now foolishness can cause problems and needs to be corrected, but there
are times that protocol can keep us from following the leading of the Holy
Spirit. If you think about it, Jesus
didn’t exactly follow protocol, either. How does being adventurous look when
you combine child-likeness with wisdom? Jesus
listened to what the Father told Him and did it. He trusted His Father to handle the fall-out
when there was risk involved or when He broke the traditions of men’s religion,
which was often. He wasn’t afraid to
journey into deep water when He needed to.
He just walked on top of it! We
can too. Wisdom comes through the Word,
and hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit.
Once we know He has spoken to us, it’s time to move. We tend to avoid
any risk or anything that would keep us out of certain circles. But we are called to hear, believe and
follow. When we hear Jesus’ call, do we
argue with Him like Moses argued with God?
Moses weighed out the risk factor, what people might say, the mental
idea he had that he was not qualified to do the job, the unbelief of the people
he was asked to deliver, and the probable failure rate of the mission. Do we do that? Or do we hear, believe and
follow? Following Jesus is not
reckless. Following our own imaginations
and ideas is very reckless. Behaving foolishly will tarnish not only our
reputation, but the reputation of God in the eyes of those who see it. There will
be times we need to seek confirmation from a wise Christian friend to be sure
we are hearing from God. And, of course, we need to have the leading of the
Spirit and be in conjunction with God’s Word. But once that is settled, we need
to move out as God opens the doors.
Children are open to what they are
taught. They believe what we tell them
and usually act accordingly. When I was
a little girl, maybe four or five, there was a big old two-story abandoned
house next door to us. Our parents told
us not to go under the house to play because there was a well under there and
it was dangerous. I did not hear the
word ‘well’. I heard ‘whale’. Granted, I misunderstood what they said, but
the fact remains that although I could not wrap my little mind around the
prospect of a whale living under a house, I still believed them. So I never
played under that house. Sometimes Jesus’
teachings may not make sense to us, or His callings may take us beyond our
comfort zone, but we can trust Him implicitly and act accordingly.
When you take these childlike
qualities and combine them with the wisdom and experience of age and the power
of the Holy Spirit, you have a more complete picture of a Christian. One does
not replace the other. Rather, they
balance one another. The childlike
qualities keep us humble, fresh, trusting, and energized, while the wisdom and
experience keep us from acting foolishly.
It’s the door to living in the kingdom of God.
“…whoever does not receive and
welcome the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.”
