child-like

There’s a difference between being child-like and childish, but because we don’t want to be childish we resist being child-like. We don’t want to be whiny and demanding and unreasonable, so we instead focus on all the complexity and responsibility and stoic endurance of being adults.

That’s me. I’m a deep thinker; I make connections and link to first principles with almost everything. Often it’s helpful, but sometimes I just overcomplicate my life. And I think it’s my job as a man to suck it up, not complain, take the bullet for the team, and never ask for help.

I think Jesus, in the church jargon of today, has a word for me. He gave it in Mark 10:13-16: 

“People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was 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. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.’ And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.”

One of the great things about children is their simplicity. They have a great talent for ignoring the window dressing and seeing past the complexity and getting right to the heart of the matter. That’s why their questions are so hard to answer. There’s a lot there to recommend itself for kingdom thinking. The simplicity of a child sets aside all of the yeah-buts, the false equivalencies, and just tries to understand the basic truth.

Kids are also world-champion trusters. They don’t have to understand to follow. They have some healthy skepticism, it’s true, but they also in the end are very willing to be reassured, and to be led. If we could just respond to God like children respond to their mothers, think how much easier life and faith would be.

But maybe the most remarkable thing about children is their passion. Kids are exuberant in their joys and tragic in their sorrows. They put their hearts into whatever they choose to do, and pour out their laments without holding anything back. A childlike faith would be passionate, enthusiastic, emotional, sensitive. All the things adults try to suppress.

What does it mean to receive the kingdom like a little child? Today I’m thinking maybe it means not over-complicating things, being willing to trust without needing to understand, and being unrestrained in my praising and petitioning. Maybe that’s not exactly what Jesus meant, but it looks like a good start to me.