Devotion: Three ways to demonstrate ‘faith like a child’
Think back to your younger years. Remember the times when having to ask your parents for help or permission was limiting – like when you wanted to eat an entire bag of candy in one night? But, children grow to trust that their parents will be there when they really needed their help. When you fell and needed someone to kiss a bruise, your parents were there. When you started school and were scared of making new friends, they were there.
Through each transition, you hope that your parents are present to offer a caring hand and a loving embrace. Even when our worldly parents fall short of our needs or we just don’t want to ask for their help, our Heavenly Father remains by our side.
Faith Like a Child
What does Jesus mean when he says, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”?
As much as we’d like it to mean that we should all take more naps, Jesus probably isn’t referring to those childhood routines so much as how we approach our day-to-day life.
Life Application
Here are three ways to apply that verse today:
- Trust that God will provide. As children, we turn to our parents for a place to sleep, food to eat, and comfort. Do we turn to our Heavenly Father with those same concerns today?
- Give Him our burdens. As a child, it’s easy to take stressful situations and dump them on mom or dad. It’s even expected. Without much of a filter, kids are bound to spill their guts and seek support. Will we give up our troubles to God, or will we keep trying to solve them ourselves?
- Seek God’s guidance. As children, we’re at the mercy of our parents. Where they go, we go. However, as adults we often carve our own paths. We seek jobs, houses, even books based on what we think will be best. Will we invite God into our decision making? Will we follow His lead?
Asking for help was normal while we were growing up. Yet, as we mature society tells us that asking for help is a sign of weakness. We’re called to be self-sufficient in order to prove ourselves. It’s with this understanding of adulthood that we peer into the scriptures today. Instead of following the world’s definition of maturity, reflect on how you can return to your childlike faith today.