Unless You Turn and Become Like Children

“And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, ‘What were you discussing on the way?’ But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, ‘If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.’ And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, ‘Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.’” (Mark 9:33-37 ESV)

“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.’” (Matthew 18:1-4 ESV)

What is it about children that Jesus used them as an example? Children, as a general rule, though not necessarily all children, tend to be very trusting, and they believe easily without question and without doubt. Some of them have the greatest prayers, for they really believe God is going to answer them. So they pray with absolute faith. For they do not have all the experiences of adults which may make them more cynical. 

I, as a child, and as a young adult, especially, was very trusting of God and of his word, and even of pastors and Sunday School teachers and youth leaders, etc. And I had very good reasons not to be trusting of people, too. But I always had that childlike faith. And I can still recall a youth meeting where the leader stated that we are to pray for the missionaries, “But none of us do,” he said. I think I raised my hand and said, “But I do!”

For if I was told to pray for the missionaries, that is what I did. And then someone told me I should carry my bible to school along with my other books, as a witness for Jesus Christ, and so I did that, too. But I was so trusting that I believed a lot of lies early on, too, which the Lord had to eventually get me to unlearn as I began studying the Scriptures more in context and began to realize that not everything I was taught is the truth.

So, it is good to have childlike faith in Jesus Christ which trusts our Lord and his word, which believes what he tells us, and which then acts upon that belief with our actions. But we need to guard against being naïve and too trusting of humans who may take advantage of us and of our trust and who may feed us lies, instead of the truth. So we need to couple childlike faith with spiritual wisdom and maturity and discernment of the Spirit of God.

But the message here isn’t just about having childlike faith, but it is also a message about being humble and not proud. For us to truly believe in Jesus Christ with this childlike (not childish) faith, it requires that we humble ourselves and that we believe Jesus, and that we believe his word, and so we surrender our lives to him to be his possession, and so we die with him to sin daily and we now live for him and his righteousness, and not in sin.

And something that comes to mind here has to do with titles that people give themselves or that are given to them because of their credentials, and that can often be something that leads people to think more highly of themselves than they ought to think and to think more lowly of those who do not share the same titles and credentials. Like this whole thing of clergy and laity is just not biblical. We are all one body with just many parts.

But there are many such people who have titles who think that they are greater than the rest of us, and just because they have particular credentials that the rest of us do not have. But God does not regard those with human credentials and titles above those of us without such titles and credentials, for he does not judge as humans do, nor by the same standards. For he judges us by his standards which have to do with how we live.

And that is also what this is really all about. So we are not to get puffed up and think we are superior to others because of the amount of knowledge or learning or training or credentials or accreditations we have received in this life coming from the standards of human thinking. For the ones God regards as those whom he approves are those who are humble like little children and who trust him with childlike faith and who will do what he says to do.

And that is one of the reasons I love the story in Luke 7:36-50 of the woman who anointed Jesus’ feet with ointment and who wet his feet with her tears and who wiped them with her hair. And she did this in front of a Pharisee who she certainly knew would disapprove of her actions, and he did. But Jesus honored the woman for what she did, in front of the Pharisee, and he told him that she did for him what he should have done but did not do.

So, our Lord is not impressed with credentials and titles and positions of honor and recognition by other human beings. What he loves is someone who is humble and who will serve him and do for him what pleases him and what he requires, even if she is rejected, mocked, criticized, and regarded as worthless because she is a woman and because she has no credentials other than her relationship with Jesus Christ.

Draw Me Close To You  

Donnie McClurkin

Draw me close to You

Never let me go

I lay it all down again

To hear You say that I'm Your friend

You are my desire

And no one else will do

'Cause nothing else can take Your place

To feel the warmth of Your embrace

Help me find a way

Bring me back to You

Bring me back, oh Jesus

You're all I want

You're all I've ever needed

You're all I want

Help me know You are near

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAnwBixzuNo 

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