Accepting God as a Child
Earlier this week, I was having a rough day at the office and decided to take my lunch out just to sit in the sunshine and get away from the tension. I visited a local park where there were quite a few children playing.
As I sat and observed, I couldn’t help but smile. They were having so much fun, laughing so loudly and reveling in each other’s company. This made me think, “What a lesson we could learn from them?” Certainly, this wasn’t behavior displayed by us, as adults. Sadly, we can’t even get along at home much-less outside home.
The Greatest in Heaven
I remembered then, reading about the children in the Bible. Christ spoke so much of them and how He loved them so as did His Father in Heaven.
One day Christ’s disciples were having a discussion between themselves and then asked Jesus, “Who then, is the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven?” Jesus then called a small child to Him and set him among them and said…
Matthew 18:3-5 – “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. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.”
Innocence of a Child
While children are born into sin, as their parents are sinners, they are still considered great with God because of their innocence. I could go on for hours about how often Jesus spoke of their “greatness” and closeness with the Father. All children, are truly Loved by Him.
Matthew 18:10 – “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their Angels in Heaven always see the face of my Father in Heaven.”
I would think that one of the reasons they are Loved so much is, even though they were born into sin, they themselves do not know sin and have not committed sin.
When we are born, we don’t know hate, prejudice, jealousy or lust. The sinful traits are, unfortunately, taught to us as we grow older.
As We Grew
What happened to us? Well, we learned all about the “bad things” from our parents, teachers and friends and became frightened instead of, like when we were younger, enjoying the simple things in our lives.
We learned, first-hand, about evil. We learned about prejudice and hating our Brothers and Sisters from foreign lands. We envied our neighbor’s possessions and lusted after the people we found to be beautiful in our own eyes. This, truly, has taken our innocence and Godliness away.
No Fear
As I mentioned above, we learned to fear. We weren’t born with it, we were warned of it and taught to watch out for all the “dangerous, evil” things that life throws at us.
Our Lord taught us, there is no fear in love and love can remove our fear…
1 John 4:18 – There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
We’re so afraid! Remember when we drank out of hoses; rode our bicycles without helmets; got our hands and clothes dirty playing in piles of dirt and mud; playing with our Black, Chinese or Indian playmates?
How about spiders, snakes and other creatures we dread so much as adults. I myself, as a youngster, would always be found snatching frogs out of our pond in the Catskills and scaring my sister after having caught a snake in our back-yard.
What happened to us? We, grew up. Again, this world has taught us all about evil things. Today, when a snake crawls into my path, I’ll whimper like a little girl and jump to higher ground.
A Child’s Sight
Have you ever heard of a child talking about seeing or speaking to someone who had long passed? Do you remember, from the Bible, how God used to speak, out-loud, to His people? What happened with us? Why can we no longer see God, His Angels or hear His voice?
Jeremiah 22:17 – “But your eyes and your heart are set only on dishonest gain, on shedding innocent blood and on oppression and extortion.”
This kind of answers that question, doesn’t it? As we grow, and are ‘educated’ by the ways of man, our vision and hearing become set on the wrong things. This, in my opinion, is not so of the innocent children who have not yet learned hate.
As I normally do, I found a few stories about this online. One, from the Alliance of Hope for Suicide Survivors. This is a group I joined to help my pain in dealing with loss due to suicide. The people on that forum, I can honestly say, literally saved my life.
The Telephone Call… click to read
Here is another one I found which, in my opinion, clearly stated a child had spoken to an Angel, or one with an Angel.
Grandpa Says Good-Bye… click to read
In Summary
We need to remember our innocence, the way we were, and stop focusing on the ways of this world. Pay attention to the word of God and the lessons of Christ. Practice our faith every day… always acting with a kind and loving heart, as a child, for if we don’t, again…
Mark 10:15 – “Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”
An easy way to approach this is, as we always talk about, simply keeping yourself humble and above no one.
1 Peter 5:6-7 – “So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.”
Don’t discount what the children have to say. The next time a child has a story to tell you, listen, as a child. Open-up your ears, open your heart and hear the messages God sends them and understand His great love for ALL His children… including you!
Go with God; be good to one another; always stay humble; always be kind… God Bless!