Faith like a Child

Jesus said, “I assure you that whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it”. (Matt 10:13-15; Mark 10:13-16; Luke 18:15-17)

I think these passages are glossed over most of the time. People were bringing their children to Jesus to have Him bless them. The Disciples tried to stop them assuming Jesus had more important people to minister to. Jesus then rebuked the Disciples and let the children come to Him and sit by Him. I think most of the time the passage is seen as Jesus being kind to children. Obviously He was, but was that His message to the crowd?

I have come to believe this is a statement of total faith; no doubt in Jesus, His words, His Kingdom and His promise. So much of scripture has a double meaning. There is the meaning relating to the “physical world” and also there is a meaning in the “spiritual world”. A good example of that is Jesus’ healing of a blind man in John 9. Toward the end of the chapter, John 9:39, Jesus said, “I came to this world to judge, so that the blind should see and those who see should become blind”; physical and spiritual.

So how does a child receive the Kingdom of God? What kind of faith does a child have? Who do you think the children thought Jesus was? We read these passages 2000 years later with the “vision of history” on our side. If you are reading this you are probably an adult that believes in Biblical truth. These were kids brought to a nice man to set on His lap and have Him talk to them. Their parents were followers of Jesus, but the children were just there with their parents. Was Jesus talking about the children receiving the Kingdom of God?

Again I believe there is a double meaning. The children were very comfortable talking to this gentle man. His countenance made them feel very safe. His words were comforting. They “received” Him openly. But Jesus was talking about the Kingdom. He was saying it takes “faith like a child” to enter the Kingdom.

What creates that faith? Think about a child raised by loving, caring, nurturing parents. There is no doubt in their mind that their needs will be taken care of. In fact they don’t even think about it. It is a given. How many times have we seen a father throw his toddler in the air and catch them again? The child laughs with delight. They have no fear of falling. They know their father will catch them. They have total faith; faith of a child.

Are you starting to see the spiritual parallel? Do you have “faith like a child”? Do you ever worry about your Heavenly Father “dropping you”? I think our first reaction to this question would be to say we don’t believe He will drop us but, if that is true, why do we hold on so tightly to the “things of this world”? To paraphrase the great philosopher Yoda from Star Wars, “Have faith or do not have faith, there is try”.

Faith like a child allows us to have no fear of the unknown and no worry about the future. If we have faith like a child we know we will not “fall”. Then we will have “eyes” to see the Kingdom all around us. Jesus was saying if you don’t have that kind of faith, faith like a child, you will never enter it. You either believe Him or you don’t. There is no middle ground.