LIKE A CHILD

The simplicity of willingness.

Our daughter and two of our grandsons joined us at our annual Pacific Northwest ocean getaway for a week this summer. It was pure delight – for us! But as you can see on our grandsons’ faces, for them too! We explored tidepools, touched starfish, collected seashells, built sandcastles, chased seagulls, made driftwood forts, and best of all – ran from the waves!

We walked down the beach as our two grandsons darted in and out of the shallow surf, keeping one step ahead of the foamy rim of the crashing waves.

My grandson’s exhilarated expression struck me as I looked through my camera’s viewfinder! In that moment, these words popped into my mind: joy, innocence, freedom, delight, happiness, carefree.

I was looking into the face of pure pleasure and merriment. Running lightly, bright eyes upward, unincumbered by life’s demands. Unchained from the drag of sin. Unburdened by the weight of guilt and regret. Free from the grip of bitterness and pain.

Immediately, a deep question arose in my heart: was I living life joyously free, as expressed on the face of my grandsons?

The Holy Spirit teaches me, and He started by reminding me of Jesus’ words:

“Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.”

“Like a child.”

At 55, childhood is long past. I felt like Nicodemus when Jesus told him that to see the kingdom of heaven, he must be born again. Nicodemus questioned how a person can be born when they are old? They surely can’t return to their mother’s womb.

Similarly, how can someone who has been repeatedly betrayed and scarred by sin and has long lost their innocence ever return to a childlike trust before God?

Oh yes, Jesus wants me to be like a little child. But how?

What the Holy Spirit revealed next about the heart of our Heavenly Father left me in puddles of grateful adoration.

In Mark’s account of Jesus, chapter 10:13-16, we see Jesus’ disciples forbidding parents from bringing their children to Jesus. The NKJ version translates Jesus’ response to His disciples’ behavior as greatly displeased. The actual original language in the Greek means He was greatly afflicted and moved with indignation! In this moment, we see a very angry Jesus.

He commands them to “let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them…”

The kingdom of God is made up little children. To enter in as a family member of God’s Kingdom, one must be as a little child.

The most powerful part of this story is how Jesus then demonstrates what it looks like to be a child before God.

“And He [Jesus] took them [children] up in His arms, laid His hands on them, and blessed them.” ~ Mark 10:16

Jesus reveals the ultimate heart of the Heavenly Father toward humanity in this act. He would take each person up in His arms, lay His hands on them, and bless them!

This passion of God toward us is revealed similarly in passages like Isaiah 40:11a,

“He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, And carry them in His bosom…”

And again in Matthew 23:37,

“How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings…”

And He shows us what it means to be a child – a willing trust to be nestled in His embrace. Will you let Him hold you in His arms? Abandoned to Him? Given to Him? Taken by Him?

Will you let Him lay His hands upon you? To know you? To impart the Holy Spirit to you? To heal you? To release you from every oppression?

Will you accept His “blessing you with every spiritual blessing in Heavenly places in Christ? Will you believe and give yourself to live in, exist in EVERY BLESSING of JESUS?

Jesus was sent first to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As a nation, they rejected Jesus. Jesus lamented over them. “I want to gather your children [into my kingdom], BUT YOU WERE NOT WILLING!

To be like a child is to be willing. It doesn’t get much simpler than that.

God’s passion to receive His children in His arms is so intense that anyone who hinders or prevents them from coming to Him will be subject to His indignation.

“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.” ~ Matthew 23:13

“It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend (to put a stumbling block in the way) one of these little ones.” ~ Luke 17:2

Jesus described Himself as the DOOR (John 10:9). He IS HOSPITALITY. His invitation is simple and direct, “Come unto me…” (Matthew 11:28).

The qualification for childlikeness is very simple: All Jesus asks is that you allow Him to take you up in His arms.

In His arms, Jesus restores innocence; He imparts faith and trust; He takes away blindness and provides spiritual vision.

The freedom of a child to run and dance unencumbered, filled with overwhelming joy! It is life in Jesus’ embrace!

Like a child. Like HIS child. It’s how He found me, received me, and keeps me!

Now I can run on the beach before my Heavenly Father just like my grandsons, beaming with “joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of my faith—the salvation of my soul” (1 Peter 1:8b-9).