When Jesus Christ lived on the earth He welcomed little children to come to Him and referred to them often in His teachings. In one instance, He reprimanded His disciples for trying to keep parents from bringing them to Him for a blessing. Their hearts were Distant from the true meaning of His message. Jesus used the term “the kingdom of God” on multiple occasions and referred to it in a way which simply put was “the rule of God in our hearts.” It truly meant more and ultimately describes our eternal existence with Him in heaven. It BEGINS with a CHILDLIKE DEPENDENCE on God!
When Jesus said, “the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these,” He was referring to the childlike characteristics that ready us to receive Christ. Those characteristics are;
1-simplicity
2-trust
3-dependence
4-humility
5-joy
6-wonder
These things are far more important than the things which clamor for our affections as adults. As we age we become more cynical selfish and self-absorbed.
Children need and long for something or someone to lean on. Something or someone outside themselves. Childlike wonder and joy, you see, opens our hearts to be more receptive to God who is just waiting for us to run into His arms, the arms of our “Abba,” our daddy! Those who are childlike in their dependence on God are the ones who were welcomed by Jesus.
The “flipside” of this childlike dependence was expressed in the story of the rich young ruler. He wound up sadly leaving because his priority was his “worldly riches.” He had been accustomed to depending on his own skills and abilities and not on the one who gave him those talents. There is a great message in that story for all of us. There is nothing wrong with possessing great wealth but our “portfolio” should include a great amount of STOCK in faith, hope, and love.Simple, childlike trust in Jesus Christ is better than “adultlike” independence and trust in “lesser” things.
As parents, we need to teach our children that there are things more important in life than what we can “get”. We need to show them that it is in the “giving” that we find true joy in life. When we succeed at that we teach them one of the most important lessons in life.We should remember today that we need to put our trust and faith in God,
“Like a child.”
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