At our home on any given Sunday, we eat our main meal in the middle of the day. If anyone is still hungry in the evening they can help themselves to anything, but they are not allowed to make a mess. (Mum’s rules)

Last Sunday evening, I found a box of cereal on the table that was chosen by my youngest son to eat during the week. It was not usually something I let them buy, as the sugar content is too high but as a treat I allowed it. As I looked at the box, I was reminded that it was a cereal that my mum would buy for us when we were young. I poured myself a bowl, added milk and sat on the couch with my legs crossed, eating it. There was something very childlike about the pleasure of something so simple.

As I was pondering how childlike it was, when a scripture came to mind. Matthew 18:1-6 and 10,

“Jesus called a little child to him and put the child among them. Then he said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me. But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to have a large millstone tied around your neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea.

Beware that you don’t look down on any of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels are always in the presence of my heavenly Father.” (NLT)

 

God placed these words in my heart for a reason. I sat praying for a moment, I sensed God saying to me – “Children are important to me, I see each and every one of them. Childlike faith is valued, and My children who come to me as changed sinners with a trust in Me, are Mine.”

It is with a childlike faith that we accept salvation.  It is never about how great we are, it is always about how great He is. It with childlike faith that we place everything before Him.

Think about it. We leap into the arms of God only knowing that He can save. It is a childlike faith that knows that our sins are forgiven and we are now clean.

I have clear memories of when my two teenagers were very young and their trust in me as their mother. I remember that one day I was walking past my youngest, and just as I past him he yelled, “Catch me mummy!!”. I spun around and just caught him. He had leapt as I had turned around even before he knew I was ready. He laughed with glee and wrapped his arms around my neck. He had given me a fright, and I had to explain to him that he needed to wait until I was ready. “But mummy, you caught me!” he protested. His trust in my abilities were unwavering.

Knowing my youngest as I do, I am sure that it was part of the thrill that caused him to leap, but part of it was knowing that up until now his mother had always caught him. With God, it is not that we deliberately leap from places of safety to see if He can catch us, but when we live in this world with all that life throws at us and our own rebellion and sin, we are often in free-fall. He stops that fall by saving us, and our free-fall is never a surprise to Him.

Faith in God is very simplistic. He saves, we accept. He loves, we respond. He calls, we go. When life is tough we grab a hold of His hand and ask Him to get us through.

It is the adult in me that questions God and my faith and demand that God let me know what is happening next. For the disciples it was the adult in them that asked Jesus who was the greatest. While is good to know what and why you believe, it is good to study the bible and learn more, it is with the knowledge that our original faith was basic and childlike and should remain so.

Our Father is calling to all people the same message of salvation to a lost and broken world. It is hard for people to believe that God can save. Their adult mind is trying to figure out something that children comprehend easily.

For those of us that have been studying and believing in God’s Word for a long time, God is still speaking to us in the same simple way – “trust Me and trust that I am there”.

For me, it is easy to know why something like sitting eating a bowl of cereal is childlike – it reminds me of a time when life was simple. The greatest joy I have in my walk as a Christian is the times I hold God’s hand and walk with Him, trusting that He knows all.

Be blessed.