Blog – Kingdom Lessons #11, Become as a Little Child. By Jim Banks www.jimandpatbanks.com www.traumaprayer.com
Below are a number of Scriptures that link maintaining or adopting the characteristics of a child with entering the Kingdom of Heaven. They are important to us as believers because God through the death, burial and resurrection of His son, Jesus the Christ, we have been given the power to become the sons and daughters of God, consequently, revealing to us through a metaphor the heart attitude we need to be sure we have in order to enter the Kingdom.
Jesus said in Matthew 7:21, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” It should be patently obvious that the first requisite for entry into the Kingdom of Heaven is doing the will of the Father, but there are a couple of others that are equally important. Here’s one that shouldn’t be too hard to grasp, and one that should allow you to live the abundant life.
“… and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye turn, and become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:3
“Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall in no wise enter therein.” Luke 18:17
“But Jesus said, Suffer the little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 19:14
When considering the qualifications for entry into the Kingdom of Heaven, one of the major blockages is the results of feeling forced to make a decision early in life to leave childhood behind and become an adult. This decision seems necesssary because the parent(s) or caregiver(s) can’t or won’t provide what the child feels they need. This is particularly common for children whose parents or caregivers were neglectful, abusive (physically, emotionally, or sexually), or they created a continuously hostile/chaotic home environment, were physically absent or emotionally unavailable to them. Leaving childhood behind means that the individual has usually suppressed their emotions, chosen to live life out of their heads having to figure everything out for themselves, attempted to create safety or provision for themselves, and have significant difficulty dreaming or visualizing a preferrable future.
The question naturally becomes, What are the salient characteristics of children that Jesus finds so attractive that He would have no hesitancy in admitting those into the Kingdom of Heaven demonstrating those characteristics? Perhaps the first characteristics we notice is that of innocence, a simplicity, a charming guiltlessness, guileless, harmless. It’s often described as a simple purity, totally devoid of the knowledge of evil. People naturally feel comfortable around such people, and because they are ‘guiltless’ there is no attempt to cover or hide anything. They also tend to be naïve as a result.
Next, I would say that we quickly recognize that small children are fearless. Rationally speaking they do not walk with any measure of pride which is heavily warred against by disappointing experiences that typically cause older people to begin to self-protect. When a child wants to learn to ride a bicycle, how many times do they crash and burn and yet pick themselves up again, dust themselves off, and resolutely attempt it again.
Children are generally considered very gullible because they tend to trust what people tell them is true. They have yet to learn that people often do not tell the truth because they have their own questionable motives in mind. While the TV show Impractical Jokers has become popular, I hate it and cannot watch it because its primary motive is to take advantage of people and make them look as foolish as possible. Human beings were never created with a fundamental desire to see other people degraded or hurt and you see it through the interaction of children with each other.
Vulnerability is another significant characteristic of children. They wear their hearts on their sleave and because they often err in trusting the wrong people that vulnerability is easy to take advantage of. However, the resiliency of children is legendary because they would rather trust than cut people off and so will often give those who took advantage of them on the playground numerous other chances to do what’s right, often to their own hurt.
Children are also generally very sociable. They are significantly relationally driven and so they are always desirous of frequent interaction with playmates. Initially they may display a brief hesitance to engage those they do not know, but the desire to participate overwhelms it rather quickly due to FOMO (fear of missing out.) I think this is why Jesus said in John 10:10b, “I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.” True life is always found in the company of others, with God in the middle. This is why we collectively feel such a desire for community these days.
Children are definitely not enamored with stuff. They don’t care what they look like, what they wear, or what they smell like. It’s activity and connection that is desired, and the more wonder that an adult can introduce them to the better. Things cannot produce that, they are considered little more than tools to facilitate play, rather than being the object of it. Why does a child cry when someone takes His or her ball? It’s not about the ball, it’s what the ball represents to them, a tool to attract others for the purpose of connection. As long as the other child is willing to play with them (connection) then who’s holding the ball in immaterial. If something more interesting grabs their attention, then the ball gets dropped and they’re off to engage it.
Children are natural learners. As adult we too should be learners, life-long learners, but not for the sake of acquiring knowledge. Our society prizes knowledge because knowledge (primarily facts) is equated with power and influence. A child who has no need for either of those two outcomes. The draw is to the wonder of all things new and exciting, but the power of that lure becomes irresistible if that new thing can be participatory. A lecture is not going to do it for them. It is interesting that in Jewish culture learning is first experiential, then it is reinforced with academic classroom work.
Among the awesome characteristics of children is their unhampered ability to hear the voice of God quickly and clearly, once they are introduced to it. Once introduced, it becomes a way of life quickly. Obviously, the enemy throws up numerous distractions and challenges to continuing with such a habit, which is where adult supervision that regularly encourages it as a daily (if not moment by moment) exercise)
So what does this mean for us as adults? First of all, the characteristics of childhood were given to us for a reason. They were original equipment that was to be nurtured and matured to that some form of them not only remains but were to be strengthened and protected for the balance of life. We are well aware that the Apostle Paul said the following about maturing in his knowledge of the Lord and the practice of spiritual gifts, yet many have taken this statement out of context and used it to pass judgment on all that has been written above.
“When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child: now that I am become a man, I have put away childish things.” 1Corinthians 13:11
The passage from which this verse was taken is in regard to spiritual gifts and particularly about what many modern-day evangelicals would categorize as some particularly controversial spiritual gifts; specifically, prophecy and tongues. A number of individuals who adhere to the belief that all gifts ceased to exist with the death of the original Apostles look to this verse for justification. However, this verse declares that in order to properly function in these spiritual gifts, as a well as any of the balance of them, one must enter into a maturation process which leads us away from childishness, as opposed to childlikeness. Childishness is generally the result of acting solely out of the flesh rather than the spirit, which is what happens when people try to begin to operate in spiritual gifts of their own will.
Learning to operate in spiritual gifts can initially be off-putting, and messy for leadership to manage, but in no way should they be considered an unworthy of pursuit, for no one learned to do anything well without first having made a few mistakes. Children tend to operate in them fairly well because they do not consider the reaction if they make a mistake -no fear. We need to desire to get back to that level of care-freeness.
Recent Comments