The Life of a Child

I’ll be the first to tell you living with three young children is challenging. They are constantly making demands, throw annoying tantrums and have difficulty listening when you tell them to do something. Then just when you think you’re at the end of your sanity and patience, you look into an obscure corner of a room and notice little toy soldiers surrounding a blue beast and suddenly your heart warms and you can’t help but smile and maybe tear up a little. The innocence of a child is priceless and to be cherished. Jesus even told us we must become as children to enter the kingdom of heaven.

At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:1-4 ESV

Often we hear these verses in reference to having a childlike faith, which is great; that innocent trust in a God we cannot fully perceive in a physical sense. Therefore having a faith that can withstand that lack of tangible proof is vital, yet if we look at the passage closely, there’s more there. In the context of these verses, Jesus is answering the question of who is greatest in the kingdom of Heaven, a concern that seemed to arise among the disciples upon occasion. Pride is a recurring theme throughout the Bible, and continues to be a problem for us even today. Pride self-promotes and self-serves, distracting us from genuine service to others and our creator. Pride has preceded the fall of many a man throughout the ages.

Therefore we must not overlook the words, “whoever humbles himself like this child”. This section of the passage makes it clear we’re not talking specifically about having a childlike faith, we’re talking about this child’s station in life. In Jesus’ day children were valued as possessions. They had no rights. Even in our own culture today, where children are more respected, they remain vulnerable and dependent upon others to meet their needs. It was into this lowly and humble position that God sent Jesus into the world, and I believe the humble recognition of our humanity and dependence on God to meet our every need is what Jesus is referring to. It is only in the acknowledgment of God’s sovereignty that we will truly seek him and live as a child, in service and humility. It doesn’t mean that we won’t fail to trust or listen upon occasion, that we will never complain or go into meltdown mode, or that our faith will never waver, it just means that we realize there is a God who knows our name and is looking out for us, and we should put forth the effort to acknowledge our vulnerability as a child in need of his grace and daily provision.