The biggest topic that hits home for me is the topic of being childlike vs childish. I will admit that I have been or still can be childish at times, but I think we can all have our moments of immaturity. The more important question though is, are we being childlike? Children believe in everything. They will believe that a fat old man in a red suit will somehow fit down the chimney and bring gifts to every child on Christmas morning. They will believe that a giant easter bunny will drop eggs filled with candy in the grass, (What is a bunny doing with eggs anyway?), and they will believe without a doubt that Jesus died and rose from the grave.
I remember one specific time I was teaching a lesson to some preschoolers at church and I was telling them about how Jesus rose from the dead on Easter Sunday and they went crazy over it, cheering and yelling, "YAY, JESUS IS ALIVE." over and over. Wouldn't that be crazy if all of the adults got THAT excited about Jesus' resurrection? We will scream for sports teams and celebrities, but those people are just regular people, they didn't lay their life down for anyone. So why do we celebrate them more than we do Jesus?
When we are children, we look up to our parents, we want to be our parents and we spend our whole childhood learning from them but I think parents can learn from their children as well. Adults look at things practically and realistically, we have a hard time believing in certain things because according to our logic, it's "impossible". I know people who have stayed away from Christianity because they believe the Bible is a mythical book filled with make-believe things, why? Probably because it seems impossible. Jesus could not possibly be born from a virgin woman. There is no way he would be able to heal the blind and the sick, and surely not rise from the dead, let alone raise other people from the dead. It is all completely impossible, right? Maybe to us, but with God all things are possible (Matthew 19:26). God does not belong in the human-size box we put him in, he is much greater than we are. "His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts higher than our thoughts" (Isaiah 55:9).
Matthew chapter 19:14-15 says, "But Jesus said, "Let all the children come to me. Don't stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children." Being childish is behaving in a manner that lacks maturity and manners, but being childlike means believing in the impossible, finding joy in the small things, and putting your faith or trust in somebody without any second thoughts or doubts. Jesus said in Matthew 18:3-4, "I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the kingdom of Heaven. So anyone who becomes as humble as a child is the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven."
Church, let's not let our limited view hinder our belief in God and what he can do in and through us! Let us humble ourselves like children so that we may believe without seeing, and that we may trust that with God, we can do all things.
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