Day 18: Read Luke Chapter 18
A Listening Heart
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I missed those days when my children were younger. They were excited about Christmas and Santa’s visit. On Christmas eve, they tried to stay awake for Santa. But once they fell asleep, my husband and I put them to bed and got busy playing Santa, wrapping and putting gifts under the Christmas tree.
In today’s passage in Luke 18:15-17 Jesus shares the importance of becoming like children in our faith. Parents were trying to get their children to Jesus so he could touch them. While the disciples tried to stop them, Jesus welcomed the children.
As I ponder what it means to receive the Kingdom of God like a little child, I think Jesus is onto something here. By nature, children are simple and unassuming. They trust their parents and other adults in their lives. Jesus is not asking you and me to be childish but to be simple, dependent, and trusting in him.
So, what would it take for you and me to cultivate our faith like a little child?
Sometimes the challenges of life can make us struggle with our faith. Maybe you’re disappointed because of past trauma, job and financial distress, barrenness, emotional or physical abuse, and questioning your faith. Perhaps you wonder if God cares.
Of course, He cares deeply about you. He wants you and me to depend on him. He wants us to come like a child and freely share our honest feelings, thoughts, and desires with him.
How to Cultivate Childlike Faith to have Peace and Greater Joy
- Delight in His Presence: When my children were little, they followed me around the house and wanted to be in on whatever I did. To have childlike faith means looking to God just as a child looks to their earthly parent. We spend time with him and desire to know his heart and do what pleases him. For me, this includes getting up early to worship, reading and meditating on his word, and then praying and journaling. Personally, I would be a hot mess without Jesus in my life.
- Seek His Help with any problem you may have. Young children are generally dependent on their parents for the most part. They ask their mom or dad if they’re hungry because they trust they’ll give them food. It took me a while to learn this. By nature, I am good at giving, but I need to improve at receiving. But after a few rounds in the school of life, I am slowly but surely learning to ask God for help and accept any help that he sends my way. Asking for help is not always easy, but to have childlike faith, we must be open and vulnerable with God.
- Rely on Him for Guidance: On more than one occasion, at least one of my children was missing at the mall or the park when they were younger. Their curiosity got the best of them, and they wandered off on their own. The consequences can be disastrous if you and I try to live independently of God. We need God’s guidance moment by moment and daily.
Nothing is more rewarding than having God as a stable GPS to help us navigate life. Just as children have a simple trusting attitude toward their parents, you and I can do the same with God. We can delight in and rely on him for our needs and guidance.
I’ve found that the more I open up my life to God, my problems and challenges take a whole new perspective. I know that I’m never alone.
You, too, are never alone. You have a loving Father who’s always present with you. So you can be secure in your relationship with him. Like children, you and I can freely bring our doubts, fears, worries, pain, and disappointments to God. In return, we’ll receive his love and experience his wonder, peace, and joy.
Faith and trust are essential to having a secure relationship and childlike faith in God.
In what areas of life do you struggle to have childlike faith? How will you ask God for help?
Prayer: Lord, increase my faith. Help me to cultivate childlike faith and discover more of your love, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Truly I tell you, anyone, who will not receive the Kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it. Luke 18:17
Day 18: This post is part of the Come Away with Jesus Christmas Challenge.
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