HAVING A CHILD-LIKE SPIRIT

"I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes" (Matthew 11:25).

The wise and prudent are those who have confidence in their reasoning ability to help them in their pursuit of spiritual knowledge. The babes are those whose chief work is not the mind and its power, but the heart and its emotions. Ignorance, helplessness, dependence, meekness, teachableness, trust, and love—these are the qualities God seeks in those whom He teaches (see Psalm 25:9,12,14,17,20).

The true preacher knows how much depends upon the condition of the heart. He seeks, even as Jesus did, to make the teaching of objective truth or doctrine secondary to the cultivation of those attitudes without which teaching has little value. The true teacher considers the amount of knowledge a secondary thing. His first aim is to develop the abilities of the child's mind and spirit. He helps the pupil, both mentally and morally, to use his abilities correctly in the pursuit and application of knowledge and its emotions that are important. Because they have a sense of humility, love, and trust, God reveals to them the very thing they know they cannot understand.

A Teachable Spirit

Education tells us that there are two styles of teaching. The ordinary teacher makes the communication of knowledge his main objective. He strives to cultivate the abilities of the child in order to help him attain this objective. The true teacher considers the amount of knowledge a secondary thing. His first aim is to develop the abilities of the child's mind and spirit. He helps the pupil, both mentally and morally, to use his abilities correctly in the pursuit and the application of knowledge.

He must remember that there must be an individual revelation of divine truth to each person by the Holy Spirit. He must wait on the Father to reveal to him, and within him, the hidden mystery in its power in the inner life. With this attitude, he exercises the childlike spirit and receives the Kingdom as a little child.

The true preacher knows how much depends upon the condition of heart. He seeks, even as Jesus did, to make the teaching of objective truth or doctrine secondary to the cultivation of those attitudes without which teaching has little value.

A hundred eloquent sermons can be preached to wise and prudent Christians who listen with the idea that they can understand, and that what they hear will somehow profit them. However, if one sermon is preached to hearers who are aware of their spiritual ignorance, they will receive the truth because of their childlike spirit. They will wait for and depend on the Father's teaching.

In the secret chamber every man is his own teacher and preacher. He is to train himself to have a childlike simplicity and a teachable spirit.

He must remember that there must be an individual revelation of divine truth to each person by the Holy Spirit. He must wait on the Father to reveal to him, and within him, the hidden mystery in its power in the inner life. With this attitude he exercises the childlike spirit and receives the Kingdom as a little child.

All evangelical Christians believe in regeneration. However, few believe that when a man is born of God, his chief characteristic should be a childlike dependence on God for all teaching and strength. This was the one thing our Lord Jesus insisted on above all. He pronounced the poor in heart, the meek, the hungry, "blessed." He called men to learn that He was meek and lowly in heart.

He spoke so often of humbling ourselves and becoming as little children. The first sign of being a child of God, of being like Jesus Christ, is an absolute dependence upon God for any real knowledge of spiritual things.

A Hungry Heart

Let each of us ask ourselves: Have I considered the childlike spirit essential for my Bible study?

What use is Bible study without the childlike spirit? It is the only real key to God's school. We must set aside everything to attain this attitude. Only then will God reveal His hidden wisdom.

The new birth, being born of God, by which we become God's children, is intended to make us babes. It will give us the child spirit as well as the child-teaching. I cannot do the second without the first. Let us yield ourselves to this new life in us, to the leading of the spirit. He will breathe in us the spirit of little children. The first objective of Bible study is to learn the hidden wisdom of God.

The first condition of obtaining this knowledge is to accept the fact that God Himself reveals it to us. In order to receive a revelation of God, we must first have this childlike spirit. We all know the first thing a wise workman does is to see that he has the proper tools and that they are in proper order. He does not consider it lost time to stop his work and sharpen the tools. It is not lost time to let the Bible study wait until you see whether you are in the right position-waiting for the Father's revelation with a meek and childlike spirit.

If you feel that you have not read your Bible in this spirit, confess and forsake at once the self-confident spirit of the wise and prudent. Pray for the childlike spirit, and then believe you have it. Although it may be neglected and suppressed, it is in you. You can begin at once as a child of God to experience it.

This childlike spirit is in you, as a seed, in the new life, born of the Spirit. It must rise and grow in you as a birth of the indwelling Spirit. By faith, you must pray for this grace of the Spirit and then exercise it. Live as a babe before God. As a newborn babe, desire the milk of the Word (1 Peter 2:2).

Beware of trying to assume this state of mind only when you want to study Scripture. It must be the permanent habit of your mind, the state of your heart. Then alone can you enjoy the continual guidance of the Holy Spirit.