Faith Like a Child
Matthew 18:2-4
He called a little child to him and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 19:13-15
Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them. Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.
1 John 3:1
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.
What is this child-like faith we are supposed to have? Apparently, we adults had it at one time. What happened to it? Do we still have the faith of a child?
Small children trust their parents and believe what they’re told. They have no doubt that Santa Claus is real, and that he rewards good boys and girls. Likewise, they believe in the Easter bunny and the tooth fairy. And if the parents teach them about God, they have an unwavering faith. Children have no difficulty believing there is only one God. They fully accept the virgin birth of Jesus. They believe in the Easter story of crucifixion and resurrection. And they believe in Heaven. Because they are secure in their trust of their parents/grandparents, they believe.
Although their faith is simple, it is complete, sure, and perfect.
Again, what has happened to the child-like faith we adults once had? As we aged and our minds became able to handle more abstract thought and develop an ability to reason, life happened. Our thoughts and ideas were shaped by the people and circumstances around us. Did we lose our child-like faith?
So, how do we recover that faith? I would make a few suggestions. Remember that God is still in control of a chaotic world. We should be secure of our trust in God. Our hope should be strongly placed in Him, and let our daily worries be given to Him who is all powerful. We are the children of God. Maybe that faith can be recovered by returning to the place we acquired it to begin with: the family—church family. Surround yourself with those who strengthen you instead of those who tear you down.
Being child-like in our faith in Christ does not mean that we should not educate ourselves: it is good to study, question for understanding, and discuss. Read the Bible regularly and attend church. Consider joining Sunday School and the weekly Bible Study. Pray “without ceasing”. Teach our children, and let our children teach us. I pray we adults become humble, teachable, trusting again like a child.
Deuteronomy 19:1-7
Deuteronomy 19:1-7 “When the LORD your God has cut off the nations whose land the LORD your God is giving you, and you have dispossessed them and settled in their towns and in their houses, 2you shall set apart three cities in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess. 3You shall calculate the distances and divide into three regions the land that the LORD your God gives you as a possession, so that any homicide can flee to one of them” (Deuteronomy 19:1-3) The Law in the Torah...
Jeremiah 32:36-44
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Jeremiah 30:18-22
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Daniel 5:1-12
Daniel 5:1-12 “Under the influence of the wine, Belshazzar commanded that they bring in the vessels of gold and silver that his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines might drink from them. So they brought in the vessels of gold and silver that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from them. They drank the wine and...
1 John 2:12-17
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Micah 7:7-15; Acts 3:1-10; John 15:1-11
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Jeremiah 17:5-18
Jeremiah 17:5-18 “Thus says the LORD: Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals and make mere flesh their strength, whose hearts turn away from the LORD. They shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when relief comes. They shall live in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. Blessed are those who trust in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat...
Psalm 5
Psalm 5 I’m not one of those Bible nerds who will geek out on something like punctuation… normally. But really, ya’ll, check out that semi-colon! Now, to be clear, biblical Greek does not have this sort of punctuation so what we’re seeing is a reflection of translation decisions by the editors of the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), which is the translation we use as our pew Bibles and that I use every week for these devotionals. Now, as can be seen, not every translation utilizes the...
Jeremiah 18:1-11
Jeremiah 18:1-11 “The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him. Then the word of the LORD came to me: Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the LORD. Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel” (Jeremiah 18:4-6) The prophet Jeremiah makes a visit to his local potter and somewhere along the line of waiting for that new soup bowl to be...
Romans 5:1-11
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