ACTING LIKE A CHILD

devotional for Sunday 8/21/11

ACTING LIKE A CHILD

How would you feel if someone said to you that you are acting like a child? That phrase is often used when an adult is seen as whining, pouting or throwing a tantrum. Sometimes, when a child starts acting up in public with those behaviors, surrounding people may not take it well. They may look down their noses at the apparent lack of parenting skills of the adult, think that they could do a better job disciplining the child, and wonder what that child will grow up to be like if they don't learn how to behave better at their young age. Onlookers may also subscribe to the old adage, "children are to be seen and not heard."

The disciples may have had some opinions about children that were similar. They didn't want Jesus to be bothered by parents wanting their children to be touched by him. But Jesus had a different perspective. He even wants us to be childlike in our faith, fully and easily trusting, and accepting that we are undeserving and helpless to save ourselves:

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." Mark 10:13-15 NIV

The phrase is often put together with these other admonitions, "be and adult, shoulder your responsibilities, stop acting like a child." While Jesus wants our faith to be childlike, trusting fully and with great abandon, he does NOT want us to be childish in what we believe, swayed by every shift in the wind:

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. Ephesians 4:14-16

Like a perfectly loving father holds his children close to his heart, our Heavenly Father calls us his children and guards and protects us. The Jews are called the children of God in the Old Testament because God chose them and set them apart, and the Gentiles (non-Jews) are called children of God in the New Testament if they are faithful believers. In a family, children usually receive an inheritance from their parents. That means that as children of God we receive the inheritance of eternal life with him!

The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. Romans 8:16-17 NIV

May you be childlike in your faith, not childish or foolish, and may you cherish and appreciate the magnitude of your inheritance!

Written by Jan Andersen, child of God