Faith of a child

https://odb.org/2024/08/02/a-childs-hope

One of the profound passages of the Bible that remained etched in my memory is this statement by Jesus in Luke 18:16 and 17 (NIV):

16 But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 17 Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

In other words, we need to be like a child or have the faith of a child to enter the Kingdom of God. But what does that mean? A child is full of innocence. For example, a child is colour blind and does not have racial prejudices or bias. A child is pure in thought as they have not reached the age of maturity to understand sexuality.  A child is also genuine, sincere (no self-serving motives), and dependent. A child is trusting and trustworthy and has little appreciation of wealth and money. Thus, the love of money being the root of all evils has little impact on children.

But most importantly, a child is humble, and humility is the key to the heart of God as the LORD gives grace to the humble and opposes the proud (James 4:6). Humility is thus a trait of a child that we should all redevelop as adults. This is because as we grow older, it gets increasingly difficult to be humble, even before God. No matter what our lips may say, deep in our hearts, we are less humble than we make ourselves to be, and that is something we need to work on continuously, I believe, throughout our Christian life.

For example, if we are truly humble, why are we so sensitive to hurtful remarks? If people say we are weak and not good at something, why do we need to get offended? That’s because we think we are good and are proud of that! If we are humble, why do we care what others say so long as we know where we stand with God? I think a lot of people get hurt and become spiteful and resentful and sometimes even unforgiving because of words uttered, but I think if we are humble, we can let things slide and just move on. Be humble, and if we need to;  we could prove to them that we are otherwise, but there is no need to feel slighted and become revengeful.

Have the faith and heart of a child as anyone who will not receive the Kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it. Those are the words of Jesus, not mine!