Faith of a child

And they were bringing even their babies to Him so that He would touch them, but when the disciples saw it, they were rebuking them. But Jesus called for them, saying, “Permit the children to come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.”

Luke 18:15- 17

Introduction

The question of what makes up a child’s faith has become far more complicated than it needs to be in today’s day in the western world. So often children are taught to be skeptical of traditional values, accept certain societal standards, and reject any authority that tells them not to be whatever they want in any given moment.

But is this not the very faith of a child in action? We are gravely and rightly concerned with the education children receive because they are easily influenced. The things a child is taught in their early years carries along with them the rest of their lives. Whether a person’s trajectory is primarily determined by “nature” or “nurture” is directly in the crosshairs here, because the values that person learns in the early years determine what sort of life he or she deems worthwhile. When a child is taught to love God and to love his neighbor, he will see life through that lens. He does not drive questions into it or wonder why these are good things – he simply does them. You will see this even in your non-religious friends. Especially in the west, culture has been shaped by its historically Christian values. These values persist even where the belief that underpins them has faded.

That is why you see outrage among unbelievers at wonton killing or the restriction of human rights: our culture was built on the premise that every individual is imbued with the image of God. Not every culture has that built into it, making the destruction of human life a much more trivial matter (consider the condition of the Uyghur people in Communist China, for instance).

Values given to children early in life guide them implicitly.

Permit the children to come to Me

In this passage we see an interesting scene where Jesus is teaching the people, but instead of listening, some bring their children to Him to be blessed. A blessing from a righteous man is something we all can recognize as valuable. As Proverbs 15:29 tells us, the Lord hears the prayers of the righteous. And so the people brought their children to Him in the hopes that His prayers would be heard by God and their children would be blessed.

But His disciples wanted order. They were interested in the words Jesus had to say and did not want Him to be interrupted by children. So they rebuked the parents and tried sending them away. But this was not the desire of Jesus. He did not want His message and His love to be given only to those whose rational faculties were fully formed, so to speak. He desired closeness with the children.

Like a child

Using these children as an illustration, the Lord said something profound. He told us that our faith must be “like” the faith of a child. He told us we must “receive the kingdom of God like a child” or else we will never enter it.

How does a child receive any kingdom? A child receives it without question. The world given to a child is the world she accepts. There is no idealism or criticism in the early years. They are merely gathering data and accepting the things they see and the things they hear. This is the kind of faith we ought to have. This is the kind of faith we are called to.

Do you read the scriptures with skepticism? Do you read some passages and say, “Yes that sounds right and proper,” but other passages saying, “No, that cannot be”? Or instead do you take the word of God as just that: the word spoken to mankind by his creator out of an abundance of generosity and grace designed to draw you closer to Him? If any doubt remains in your mind, be reminded of the incredible faithfulness with which God preserved His holy scripture. From the diligence of the Jewish scribes to the prolific duplication from Christian missionaries, His word has been reproduced millions of times with unprecidented accuracy. Be confident in the things you read in scripture, knowing that the God over all creation does not allow a single detail to fall between the cracks.

May the Lord bless you and conform you into the image of His Son.