In Mark chapter 9, Jesus in teaching about what it looks like to be a part of his Kingdom holds up a little child as an example. What are the characteristics of children that reflect the Kingdom of God? What about innocence? There is a beautiful innocence in the lives of young children. They don't know what they are supposed to not like...who they are supposed to not like...what is cool or uncool...they do not allow themselves to be ruled by fear because they don't know enough to be afraid. Their innocence allows them to enjoy life...to drink it in...to play...to pretend...to love unconditionally...it is so godly! How about their faith? They simply believe. They believe their parents will protect them - they jump off couches knowing we will catch them, even if we aren't looking! They do not worry about meals, clothes, shelter, etc...because they know they will be provided for. They accept fully that God is there with them...that God is healing their wounds (scrapes, cuts and what-not)...they pray for any and everything, because they believe that God can handle it all (They are not as concerned as adults about "bothering" God). Their faith is beautifully simple. If adults acted a lot more like children with regard to innocence and faith...the world would be forever changed for the better.
There are times when my youngest son Aidan can get a little whiny. He is 7 years old and still throws the odd emotional tantrum from time to time. It can get really frustrating! Sometimes when he does this I say to him, "Aidan you are in first grade...you are seven years old...it is not okay to act like a baby...you need to act like a big boy!" The last couple of times this has happened, Aidan has responded back to me, "But I'm just a little boy, Daddy!" There is no excuse in my book for throwing a fit because you socks are off center - no matter what your age - but Aidan's words have really stuck with me. He is just a little boy, and there are so many things about that little boy that I love. We as parents need to be careful not to push our kids to grow up too fast. In fact, Jesus told us that we should take time to watch out kids be kids, so that we might learn something about being Christians. The more I push my kids to "grow up" that more and more they become like me, which in some ways is very scary. We need to fight for the innocence of our kids. We need to encourage them to hold on to their childlike faith. And the best way we can do this is by doing everything we can to walk in innocence and faith in our own lives. We need to do our best job of being childlike in these areas to show our kids what it is like to be Christlike.
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