Wholeness Ministries
www.wholeness.org
www.wholeness.org
When It's Okay To Be A Child Part 1 of 3
When we think of little children we often picture noise, constant movement, fussing, unbridled enthusiasm, self-centeredness, selfishness, openness, honesty and total trust. Interestingly, throughout scripture believers are referred to as children. Matthew 5, one of the most familiar passages in the bible says, "Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God."(v.9) John writes, "Now dear children, continue in him so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming" (I John2:28).
We see children from a different perspective then how Jesus saw them. There is great difference between childlikeness and childishness. The sense of what Jesus is saying is best described in Matthew when he is talking with his disciples. In Matthew they ask him, "Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"(18:1 NAS) It seems obvious they had been talking about and were concerned about their rank and status in the coming kingdom. In a companion passage in Mark, He directly asks them, "What were you arguing about on the road, but they kept quiet because on the way there they had argued about who was the greatest" (Mark 9:33-34). Jesus took a little child and had him stand among them and said, "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven...Therefore whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven" (Mt.18:3,4). A little child has no idea that he is great. In the kingdom of heaven, the greatest, is he who is least conscious of being great. Our trust, openness, and eagerness, regarding the things of God exhibit this childlike behavior.
"It is recognizing one's nothingness, expecting everything from the good God, just as a little child expects everything from its father; it is not getting anxious about anything, not trying to make one's fortuneBeing little is also not attributing to oneself the virtues that one practices, as if one believed oneself capable of achieving something, but recognizing that the good God puts this treasure into the hands of his little child for it to make use of it whenever it needs to; for it is always the good God's treasure. Finally it is never being disheartened by one's faults, because children often fall, but they are too little to do themselves much harm."
One of the dangers of "growing up" is that we can lose this childlikeness and become adults that are critical, distrustful, hypocritical, unloving or rigid. In Luke Jesus tells the parable of the children at play in the marketplace. "To what then shall I compare the men of this generation,
and what are they like?" They are like children who sit in the market place and call to one another; and they say, 'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep'." (Luke 7: 31,32 NAS). These children didn't know what they wanted, except they all wanted their own way. "In this case Jesus depicts the most unattractive characteristic of immaturity: the trifling, fickle, uncooperativeness of a bored, spoiled child. The children in the marketplace were really saying, "If you don't do what I want, I won't do what you want. But I don't even know what I want. If you were to do what I think I want, I'm not sure even that would please me!"
We know that children are not outstanding examples of humility. He is pointing out that we can possess the humility necessary for entrance into the kingdom of heaven if we are prepared to come as little children. Jesus says, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God". (Mt.19:24 NLT) We could just as easily insert, proud, distrustful, apathetic, and fearful as words that describe many of us.
He points out that if you are prepared to be as open, enthusiastic, honest and trusting as little children, you can enter the kingdom of heaven.
In Matthew people were trying to bring the little children to Jesus and the disciples were trying to prevent them from gaining access to Him. Jesus uses this as an opportunity to teach a vital truth about the character of the members of the kingdom of God. "Then some children were brought to Him so that He might lay His hands on them and pray; and the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, "Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." And after laying His hands on them He departed from there." (Mt. 19:13-15 NAS)
Jesus was fully aware of the children's frailties. Nevertheless, He undoubtedly knew that, though far from innocent, they were more sensitive than adults tend to be to the supernatural world. It is easier for them to see God's hand directly at work in his creation doing what adults tend to regard as ordinary things, but which are matters of great significance to children. One of the delights of being a "grandpa", is when my granddaughter goes with me into our yard to cut roses. She gleefully runs from bush to bush yelling, "Look at the pretty roses God made for us." Sadly, we often go through life not stopping to notice the roses. Our childlike enthusiasm may have been dulled to such a degree that we no longer enjoy the wonder of God's creation.
In these passages from Matthew, Jesus is not encouraging His disciples to be childish. We don't have to lose these childlike qualities when we "grow up." "The kingdom of God, he implies, belongs to those who are trustful, receptive and friendly, and who remain unspoiled by the difficulties and disillusionment's, the cynicism and the pessimism, the compromises and the deceptions which so often depress and disfigure adult life." He wants us to retain those childlike qualities that make us receptive to what the Father is saying and doing. Think about the wonder, receptiveness and un-sophistication of children.
A child is dependent and trusting-at least until adult unworthiness breaks the trust. A child is friendly and unconscious of status or race, until adult prejudice spoils that relationship. A child is candid, as witness the Hans Christian Andersen story of the emperor's new clothes: the adults admired them not daring to say anything different until a little child said, "But he has nothing on!" A child lives in constant wonder, makes toys out of trash, and finds life a high romance. A child expects great things of life and finds them. The faith that Jesus prized is instinct in a child. We can once more become childlike, trusting, expectant, candid and sincere, but we cannot accomplish this in ourselves. God, by pardoning us, can!
To rediscover this lost quality of child-likeness is a nice idea but as William McNamera would say "it can only be enjoyed by unspoiled children, uncanonized saints, undistinguished sages and unemployed clowns."
Next month we will see how childlikeness is a doorway into relationship.
Wholeness ministries offers a weekly School of Healing Prayer, individual prayer by appointment, numerous resources on both audio and videotape as well as our book "Learning To do What Jesus Did."
For more information please contact:
Rev. Mike Evans
4301 Stine Rd. Suite H
Bakersfield CA
USA 93313
661-833-2920
Fax 661-833-2934
mevans@wholeness.org
www.wholeness.org
