I just got back from helping out at a church summer camp for juniors aged 7 to 11 years old. It was an awesome experience, as I watched young children respond to the Spirit’s prompting with faith and willingness that can only be described as child-like. I came home with a new sense of awareness about me…
Sometimes we as teens and adults can get to the point where we’ve almost "outgrown” God and His Word. Why do you think we hear comments like, “God (or faith) is for babies and those who are weak”? We may feel that we are too smart for God…too cool for God…too mature for God…too big for God, or whatever else. But we really aren’t.
The Bible says that we must come to God with the faith of a child. Children are generally not ashamed or embarrassed to ask questions and believe in what may seem impossible to the rest of us. They are so impressionable and ready to accept without the need of a lot of proof. That’s child-like faith and it’s important for us all, no matter how old we are.
But faith is not the only thing we can learn from young children. Have you ever seen a toddler almost mesmerized by the way something works…like a flashlight, for example? The young child turns the flashlight off and on repeatedly and is amazed by the reaction every single time. He can’t understand why the light disappears and then reappears again each time the button is pushed, but he does realize that the button has something to do with it. The whole concept catches his interest and serves to entertain him for as long as his attention span allows. That’s child-like awe…and it’s just as important for us as child-like faith is.
You see, as we get older and wiser we begin to understand that the batteries inside the flashlight hold energy that lights up the bulb each time we press the button. Then it no longer intrigues us…because we know enough about it and are beyond the easy amusement it supplied when we were young. Sure, we still use a flashlight when it’s dark and we need it to see, but it’s just a tool now and is not quite as exciting as it once was. It’d be foolish to turn it off and on with the same interest…the awe of a young child when you’re so much older than that, right?
Many of us make the mistake of thinking that as we grow in Christ we know more so we have no need to stand in awe of His love, power, grace, truth, and so on… We even tell ourselves that it is foolish to act like a new believer, so excited and hungry for God when we are clearly more mature than that. We feel like we know so much about God and Christianity and being a “believer” that we no longer have that awe…that delight and intrigue. Instead we always want to comprehend everything and debate our “beliefs”.
Well, understanding God is fine and all, but where’s the excitement that catches our attention and leaves us with the desire for more? Where’s the child-like awe? We tend to make things so complicated and strict when in actuality God’s love is so very simple. If we could only learn a lesson from the young children who turn flashlights on and off and question without feeling foolish…and seek God with all their hearts instead of holding back because they are “too big for God”… In reality, God is too big for us and is too awesome for even the oldest most mature Christians to ever completely understand.
-HK
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