At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.” Matthew 11:25
There are two ways you can miss the truth of something—being entirely ignorant of it and being so familiar with it that you overlook the obvious. I’ve been thinking of that in relationship to what Jesus said about little children and the kingdom of heaven. When the followers of Jesus were sparring with each other over the issue of who was going to sit on his right—you know, first lieutenant–He took a little child, sat the child on his lap, and said unless you become like one of these little children, you will not see the kingdom of God.
On another occasion Jesus prayed thanking God that He had hidden truths from the wise and educated and had revealed them unto children (Matthew 11:25). OK, then what was Jesus trying to teach? Simply put, take a look at a child. Observe his simplicity, his faith, his credulity, his freedom from hypocrisy, his insusceptibility to class or race distinction, and you are getting close to the answer.
Ponder these observations for a few brief moments and ask yourself, “Am I like that?”
Observation #1: Kids are unconcerned with rank or status. Watch two kids on the playground—one from the inner city with ragged clothes and the other with the latest fashion clothes and expensive Nikes. They begin to shoot hoops on the basketball court and they couldn’t care less what their dads do or how much money they make. I’ve watched kids from undeveloped countries play with tin cans and home made dolls with unaffected glee. They didn’t know that if the gift didn’t come shrink wrapped with a price tag attached, it couldn’t bring pleasure.
Observation #2: Kids are credulous and quick to believe. Lacking is skepticism and unbelief. They haven’t been soured by negativism. Tell a child that you will do something, and he expects you to come through. There’s nothing that you can’t do. You’re his daddy. He applies that same simple faith to God, too.
Never will I forget the time that my daughter, then about 4, had a hamster who disappeared! After a week, I had all but given up on Angel, but not Nancy. “Daddy,” let’s pray that Angel will come home,” she asked. So we knelt by the side of the bed and prayed. Frankly, I hesitated. I was quite certain that the cat and the hamster had had an encounter of the wrong kind, but no sooner had we prayed than the little hamster came crawling out from under a piece of furniture. Ah, for the faith of a little child.
Observation #3: Kids take things at face value. Want to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, then take what Jesus Christ said at face value without trying to redefine or dodge His words. Kids have a habit of saying exactly what they think— for better or worse, no matter whether it embarrasses, wounds, or heals. Rarely is there hidden intent. Their words are free from sarcasm and double meanings. They just say what they are thinking.
Observation #4: Kids have a sense of humor. As we grow older, we quickly lose the simplicity of a child and rank ourselves by class, education, gender, status, and race, but chiefly we lose our sense of humor that allows us to laugh freely at ourselves along with others.
Observation #5: Notice that kids know how to party and have fun. With fascination I watch little children having “tea” with bottle caps or make-believes cups, using leaves or pieces of about anything for sandwiches or cookies.
Time’s gone on today’s edition of Guidelines. Take a lingering look at children and realize they were the number one objects Jesus used to teach us what we’ve got to do to enter the kingdom of heaven. God grant we can be as little children.
Resource reading: Luke 10
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