Becoming Childlike

- Pastor Samantha Barrera

“He called a little child to Him, and placed the child among them. And He said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.” - Matthew 18:2-5 (NIV)

A close family friend’s daughter is like a little sister to me. Her name is Elizabeth, and her favorite thing is swimming. When Elizabeth was 7, she started learning to swim and could not swim without her floaties. Even though she could not swim independently yet, she asked to go swimming as much as possible and was excited and eager to try, practice, and learn. Every time we would go swimming together, Elizabeth begged to swim without her floaties. Her favorite thing to do was jump off the pool's edge and into my arms. She wanted to jump from the pool's edge, without floaties, into the deep end, yet she did not fear doing so. She completely trusted that I would catch her every time. Sometimes, she got water up her nose; sometimes, she swallowed some water, but without fail, every time, she got right back up to jump again.

In Matthew, Jesus doesn’t just tell His disciples they need to change to get into heaven. His method, instead, is to bring a child before them and use that child as an example for them. Jesus said that unless we become like little children, we will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Elizabeth was eager to learn new things, utterly dependent upon me, and joyous in asking for help. She completely trusted me to catch her every time without fear. Imagine if we seized the opportunity to learn from children and demonstrated those qualities in our relationship with God.

What if we were excited and eager to learn more about Him? What if we put aside our pride, embraced our complete dependency on Him, and were joyous in asking for His help? What if we completely trusted God and fearlessly jumped into the deep end, knowing He would catch us? We might get water up our nose or swallow some, but we won’t drown.

Make a Difference

How can we learn from children and be more like them?

As You Read:

The disciples didn’t always track with what Jesus was saying. We easily criticize their response when we would have reacted the same way. Instead, think about how honest the disciples are, not trying to make themselves look better. They weren’t worried about their portrayal; they put aside their pride and focused entirely on Jesus.