The Faith of a Child

If you ever wondered why Christ placed such a high premium on children and actually made their faith a model for us adults, I have a brief story for you.

Bella is now 4 and in her second year of preschool. Like every child there are scary things under her bed, in the closet, and other places in her room. Insecurities are also part of growing up that can make life pretty scary. And like every good parent, Brit and Mike try to dispel those fears by telling her those scary things are not there at all, and that she can overcome her fears.

Recently, this led to one of the most precious stories I’ve ever heard. Brit and Mike are open to telling Bella about Jesus and his place in our lives. Brit was putting Bella to bed and this is what happened, in Brit’s own words, as posted on Facebook the same day, December 8, 2014...

“I will never forget today. Hugging Bella before bed, she told me she was feeling lonely and scared, and asked me who would be with her in her room. I began to list off stuffed animals and toys, and she said, "No - that guy... who is in my heart?" I asked, "Jesus?" She said yes and asked me how to get him in her heart. We prayed and she just asked, "Dear Jesus, please come and live in my heart and protect me from the scary things." I cried. Welcome, sweet girl. “

The Bible tells the story of people bringing children to Christ so he could bless them. The disciples tried to stop them but Jesus made one of his most powerful statements. “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” (Luke 18:17)

This is what Christ says our faith should be like, child like, trusting, simple, believing that what God says or does has to be right and we follow his path. Like my dad used to say, “I know God is going to work this out. I just know it.” And he always did; not always the way dad wanted, and they certainly had their share of trouble, but it did get worked out. And dad always trusted that trusting God was the right way to go, even if it was painful or took a while.

However, adult life gets complicated. This is simply a fact of life and seems unavoidable. That is when our trusting faith must take over; the faith of a child. It’s ok to be upset, even angry. If so we take our frustrations to God and allow him to help us work them out. This is childlike faith. The trust is so profound that we do not hesitate to go to him.

There is absolutely no doubt that Bella now has Jesus in her heart and she will live for him the rest of her life.

Interestingly, my other granddaughter, Jovie, did the same thing a few weeks after.
The conversation went something like Janea telling Jovie how to pray for this. She said, “Oh, you mean like this?” and prayed the prayer. She was 3 at the time.

“Let the children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”

This seems crystal clear to me.

Thanks be to God.