When It Comes to Faith, Kids Have the Right Idea

You have to admire the simplistic, yet profound faith of children. For instance, mommy and daddy are having a night out so they hire a babysitter. As they’re leaving, they tell toddler Jackie, “We’ll be back in a little while.” The young one might curl a lip or pout a bit, but she takes them at their word, confident they indeed will return before long.

 

Or mom has to do something in the back yard and says, “I’ll be right back.” Little Timmy barely looks up from the toys he’s playing with, knowing she in fact will be right back – as she always is. That’s usually the case, except sadly when it’s not. Then childlike faith is put to the test.

 

I remember being about 9 or 10 when my mother left my sister and me at home while she went to buy some groceries. She wouldn’t be long, she told us, so we didn’t give it a second thought. However, it began snowing and as the minutes ticked away, I started feeling anxious. Late afternoon was fading into evening. When would she be back? What if something had happened to her, maybe sliding on the slick roads? What relief I felt when I saw the headlights of our car and Mom pulled into the driveway.

 

In the gospels Jesus commended childlike faith. In an account recorded in Matthew, Mark and Luke – so it must have been significant – people were bringing their babies and little children to Him for Him to bless. Jesus’ impulsive disciples, thinking there must be more important matters to address, told the people not to bother the Lord with them. He was bothered, but with the disciples, not the kids:

“When Jesus saw this, He became indignant. He said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it’…” (Mark 10:13-16). 

 

Jesus was making a couple of important statements here. First, in those days children were regarded as second-class citizens until they were old enough to begin shouldering some of the family’s workload. But even more significant was His declaration that “anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” Ponder this for a moment.

 

To act in faith, whether to dive into a parent’s arms at the pool or wait for them to return home, a child doesn’t need to fully understand every detail. Having implicit trust in mom or dad, the youngster does as he or she is told, based on the parent’s assurance.

 

We have a situation like that today concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. Nearly 2,000 years ago He assured His disciples that He would return. He just didn’t say when. Since then, followers of Jesus have eagerly anticipated His second coming. ‘It could be any day now,’ we think. And one day it will. It just hasn’t happened yet. But that doesn’t negate the promise that Christ is coming back.

 

Just days before His arrest, trial and crucifixion, He comforted His befuddled disciples: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in Me. In My Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:1-3).

 

As we look at what’s going on in the world today – wrong has become right, down is now up, left is right – many of us are thinking, “It’s got to be soon. The world seems spiraling out of control. Surely the Lord’s going to say, ‘Time out!’ and return to set things right.” But folks surely have believed that for centuries. When tempted to get impatient, even frustrated, it’s time to exercise the faith of a child.

 

Jesus understood we’d all like the specifics about His second coming. Rather than offering a definitive answer, He said, “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father…. Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come…. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him” (Matthew 24:42-44).

 

Through the centuries religious “experts” have attempted to calculate exactly when Christ would return, only to wind up with the proverbial egg on their faces. Trying to figure the day and the hour, the how’s and what’s and when’s, is an exercise in futility and foolishness.

 

What matters, as Jesus said, is to be ready for whenever He does return. Will we be actively engaged in those pursuits God has called us to so we can say we’ve finished well? His second coming could be tomorrow, next week, next year, 20 or 50 years from now. Or longer. 

With childlike faith we should be looking for Christ’s return, whenever that will be. We have His promise that He will. In the meantime, as He admonished, “It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing [what he was instructed to do] when he returns” (Matthew 24:46).