(From Left to Right) Tori and Rai from the Japanese anime, “Tai Chi Chasers.”
The subject of childlike faith has been on my heart for several days now.
I had to go back and review Matthew 18:1-5:
“At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me (New King James Version).
This instructionw is SO key. We go on and on trying to figure out what it means to be great in a world that tells us position and prestige is where its at! But, being “childlike” is key. Jesus was pointing out that its all about being “humble.” IF we do not humble ourselves as children, we will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
If we would just humble ourselves, regardless of whether the world gets it or not, the truth is, we will see great things if we let go of this adult-onset-bighead and take on the faith of a child.
Child like faith, for example, is much like the kind I saw from an episode of “Tai Chi Chasers.” One of the characters, Tori, was trying to befriend Rai, who was at the time not interested in connecting with any of the kids. Tori was consistent and persistent in connecting with Rai and helping him. He understood that the situation was less about himself and more about someone else. He wasn’t interested in holding Rai back from experiencing something great. In fact, Tori was moved to do something about the funk Rai was in.
Jesus takes a great interest in young people and made the point that we had to be like little children for a reason! Think of the opportunities missed because your adult mindset told you “its not a good investment” or “this is a foolish dream.” Imagine the ideas you wrote down or the dream job you wanted.
Perhaps it hasn’t lifted off the ground yet because you haven’t humbled yourself.
This particular lesson doesn’t mean act like children and forget about being an adult! It simply means to humble yourself. You can still be a mature adult and not think of yourself higher and better than yourself. God already sees you as important to Him…Yes…even you…so go with that, but keep it humble, kid style!
