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). 

The Faith of a Child – for Adults

As the official start of spring approaches, here’s a warm-weather image – especially for those of you who have endured much of the winter up to your eyeballs in snow and ice.

Picture a small boy or girl, not more than two years old, standing at the edge of a sun-drenched community pool. Daddy’s in the pool with arms extended, encouraging tiny Jimmy or Jill to dive in, promising to catch the little leaper. A bit wary, the child finally casts caution aside and makes the jump toward the inviting water. As promised, Daddy grabs mini-person and holds on securely.

Why does the child do it? Jumping into water over your head is dangerous when you can’t swim. What if the child slips through the father’s grasp and goes underwater? Or what if Daddy decides not to catch the little one? There’s just one reason the child does it: Childlike faith.

Little Jimmy or Jill might not jump into the arms of a complete stranger. Hopefully they won’t. But they know Daddy. A relationship has been established, built on love and trust. If Daddy asks them to jump, there’s no reason for fear. And they don’t have to stop and calculate the various risks – all they know is Daddy is totally reliable. He keeps his promises. There’s nothing to worry about. So they jump. And most likely, throughout the summer they will jump again, again and again.

On numerous occasions, Jesus talked about the faith of a child. He told His followers, “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 does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it” (Luke 18:16-17).

Another time Jesus used a child for show-and-tell: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:2-4).

Like a little girl hurling herself off the edge of a pool into a parent’s waiting arms, without gathering statistical evidence to confirm the likelihood of mom or dad successfully catching her, God calls us to exercise similar faith in committing to Him.

That doesn’t mean throwing all reason aside. Faith in Jesus Christ doesn’t require mindless, unquestioning commitment. God isn’t intimidated by our doubts and questions. They’re actually helpful in the process of spiritual growth.

At the same time, faith involves a willingness to proceed in trust when we being asked to venture into the unknown. Just as jumping into a pool amounts to a literal leap of faith for a toddler, many times God asks His spiritual children to take leaps of faith.

The first “leap” is receiving the gift of salvation Christ offers, accepting His death on the cross as the only possible atonement for the forgiveness of our sins. But that’s just one of many occasions when, like the trusting child, we must proceed even when the way seems unclear or uncertain.

That’s been the case several times in my career, changing jobs and moving my family as God directed. Sometimes He calls us to perform acts of charitable generosity that don’t make sense from a financial standpoint. “Put the calculator away,” God says. “Just do what I ask – and trust Me to more than make up the difference.”

There are countless other ways our heavenly Father asks us to follow Him with childlike faith, when “common sense” urges us otherwise. That’s why Proverbs 3:5-6 has become so dear to me over the years. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”

Many times my “own understanding” raised red flags, cautioning, “You don’t want to do that – that’s silly.” But then God said, “Trust Me. I know exactly what I’m doing.” Thankfully, He’s shown that to be true more times than I could ever remember.

As adults we want to be “sophisticated,” relying on logic and reason. We prefer to walk by sight and not by faith, feeling too “grown up” for spiritual intangibles. But ultimately, that’s what faith is all about. It’s “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). Another translation says it’s “being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

For the little child at pool’s edge, staring at Daddy’s outreached hands, the leap forward isn’t based on hope-so but confident assurance, never doubting the parent will do as promised. God desires the same childlike trust from us. It’s like He’s saying, “Child, you’ve trusted Me before and I’ve always come through for you. Why would I stop doing that now?”