Is it important to come to God like a child?

“…Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3; cf. Mark 10:15; Luke 18:17)

So, yes, it is not only important but also absolutely necessary to come to God like a child in order to have eternal life. This means we need to have a faith that is simple and uncomplicated. It is an uncluttered faith. It means that we don’t have it all figured out but we know we can take God at His word and trust His promise to adopt us into His family. But the lesson doesn’t end there. Jesus went on to say:

“Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (v. 4).

It seems that Jesus is at least implying how we should live in a complicated world. We not only get to God through a childlike faith, but we also continue throughout our lives following Him like a child. Daily life for a child is humble following. We need our Father to get us through another day. Pride strips trust. When we are following God like a child we are living in simple dependency on God’s Spirit. We are daily depending on Him. We are repeatedly asking God questions like, “What are you doing?” And we are telling Him that we want to follow Him like a child follows their parents in a busy, crowded mall on Black Friday. We are never losing sight of our heavenly Father. We are not wandering off because something shiny and noisy has caught our attention.

Let’s not lose that daily childlike trust in God. My desire is that we don’t become so “mature” in the sense that the awe and wonder of following God like a simple child wears off.

Grace & Peace,