Four
Ageless, Childlike Faith
MATTHEW 18:3
Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
Small children grow up learning to obey their parents. Sometimes, when children get older, and fall under wrong influences, they forget the values they were raised with. They forget all the sacrifices their parents made for them. All of the unconditional love their parents carried for them. Too often do kids drift from their parents’ teachings and instead go along their own path. Just like with an earthly parent, many people sway from the teachings of God as they age and go out into the real world, where many pressures and traps live. Some choose to put their faith on hold or do things in the way they think is best. But, God wants to see us remain as pure, innocent, and faithful as we were as small children. Just like we held onto our mother’s hand while crossing the street, we should continue holding God’s guiding arm through our lives, recognizing our need for Him no matter how old we are. Understanding that we are still His children along with humbling our souls will bring Him glory. Stay in pure faith, loving God regardless of the circumstances or your age. It’s never too late or early to start trusting and believing in God. His Light lives within you. He waits patiently for all of His children!
It can be difficult to stay in faith when we get older, when life gets harder, and obstacles arise everyday. Letting our faith go is much easier than we think. We skip our nightly prayers to instead collapse in bed after a long, exhausting day of work. We think we’ve bothered God enough with our nonsense. We’ve thought the situation is not even worth praying about because it’s just too difficult—we’ve all thought like that. But this is exactly why we should never take advantage of our faith and our relationship with God. When things seem great and we feel as close to God as possible, it’s easy to assume we can skip prayer that night or wait a day to do our daily Bible reading. Too often do we just assume our closeness with God means we can skip our spiritual routine. Even when your situation is great, retain that childlike faith within you and thank God for His favor and goodness.
You will see God fighting for your victory and He will shine His Light upon you as you continue being faithful and obedient, humble and repentant. He rewards your efforts, I promise.
I’ve seen too many Christians let pride get the best of them. They leave their childlike faith and some, influenced by temptations like money, begin thinking of themselves more than they should. The thing is our lives change, our income may change, but God never changes. Don’t let any amount of success make you forget Who gave that gift to you. Every amount of success is given from God’s hand, so remember to stay humble, glorify God with everything that is given to you., and remember Who is the most successful of all.
Just like small children do, we should try to learn more about God every day. Kids have so many questions regarding the Cross, who Jesus is, how God loves them, etc. Who says we can’t be curious after childhood? I encourage you to have questions. Talk to God about them if you feel uncomfortable asking others. Ask Him to answer all of your curiosity and reveal His truth to you. You’ll be surprised how much more there is to learn.
There are many people who unfortunately have not even heard of God’s love, who haven’t realized God loves His children unconditionally, or who think they have done too much bad to even be loved at all. Even though we don’t mean to, we forget this and all we do is just ask God for more money, more success, or a bigger house without thanking Him for the simple things: a roof over our heads, food on the table, and the free, permanent opportunity to pray and have a relationship with Him.
Faith Reminder
No matter what your age, remind yourself to stay in faith as a young child would. Don’t let the changing world around you let you lose sight of God’s never-ending and never changing perfect Love. Everything good comes from Him, and we should strive to be thankful for His gifts and use them for His glory. Humbly serve Him and His people.