Faith of a Child

“People were bringing little children to Jesus for Him to place His hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, He was indignant. He said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.’ And He took the children in His arms, placed His hands on them and blessed them.”
-Mark 10:13-16

I find it both sad and ironic that I spent my childhood dreaming of adulthood only to become an adult and miss certain aspects of childhood. If I could travel back in time and advise little me, I might tell little me to enjoy every second of those precious years, to smile instead of worry, and to remember the details. I would encourage little me to focus on the beauty of being cared for rather than on all the things I could not do by myself. But, of course, there is no use thinking about such “if” scenarios. Those years are gone forever.

Unbeknownst to me in my childhood years, I was at an incredible advantage spiritually. I accepted Jesus into my heart at age 7 without overanalyzing the process. All I knew was that I was sinful, Jesus was personally pained by my sin, and He loved me so much that He let people kill Him in place of me even before I was born! My mom and dad told me that Jesus was knocking at the door of my heart, patiently waiting for me to open up the door and let Him in. In my childlike imagination I could see this little Jesus knocking on my heart (which I imagined looking like the heart shape, not an actual heart). He had compassionate eyes and wanted to hug me. He wanted me. I simply could not leave Him out. I was compelled to let Him in and somehow I knew that meant I would inevitably be changed.

As I’ve grown older, the daily surrender of self to my compassionate Savior who lives in my heart has become more challenging. My once simple mind with its simple understanding has developed a false sense of self ownership. This must be squashed each day. Growing up requires an increase of responsibilities. With each responsibility comes experience, with experience comes confidence, and with confidence comes the temptation of selfish pride. Pride can be so subtle. Things like high grades, hard work, tedious tasks, future plans, and burdensome bills are all things of which I find myself claiming control. This prideful control gradually, deviously separates me from Christ until I fall flat on my face and humbly submit to His Lordship.

Right after Jesus’ instruction to have childlike faith is Jesus’ encounter with the rich, young, ruler. Coincidence? I think not. The rich, young, ruler came to Jesus asking him what he must do to inherit the kingdom of God. Jesus reminded the young man of the Ten Commandments and the young man assured Jesus of his obedience. Then Jesus took it to the next level – the level of faith.

“Jesus looked at him and loved him. ‘One thing you lack,’ He said. ‘Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’ At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth. Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, ‘How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God!”
-Mark 10:21-23

I love the part in verse 21 that says, “Jesus looked at him and loved him.” Jesus wasn’t telling the young man to give everything up because He wanted the young man to be miserable; He wanted the young man’s faith to be in Him and not in his own efforts to earn a place in the kingdom of God. Childlike faith is due to the fact that children know how to be dependant. They own nothing of their own; no material items, no time, no deep knowledge, no debt, no regrets, and no complex dreams. Little children have nothing of their own to hold them back from trusting God when they are introduced to Him. By willingly giving up the rights to our possessions we are releasing the chains of adulthood on our hearts so that we can have the simple, grand faith of little children in our Savior who looks at us and loves us.

Yes, in our own effort this kind of surrender and faith is impossible. Jesus went on to say that it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person (aka, you and me) to enter the kingdom of God (verse 25). As disheartening as that truth is, take heart! Jesus always provides a way!

The disciples asked,

“Who then can be saved?”

Jesus answered,

“With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”
-Mark 10:26 & 27

My childhood may be gone forever but I need my Jesus just as much now as I did back then. So by His enabling grace I surrender the rights to myself, I silence my doubt filled questions, and I receive my King with the faith of a child.

Sanctified and Surrendered by Caitlin Marie Stacy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.