The Faith of a Child

I am sitting here awake so I am reading about healing. (Christ Our Healer by F.F. Booth.) As I was reading the phrase the faith of a child came to me. So I asked God what was the significance of this phrase. I felt Him say that often we look down on something when we say it is childish or child like. We often think of it is small and dismissible. We treat it as something simple or cute but that is not how God sees its.

God calls us to have such faith:

“Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭18‬:‭2‬-‭4‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

So as I lay here struggling to sleep I begin to realize that God sees child like faith as the keys of kingdom power. So I began to ask why do we consider it something cute and lighthearted while God considers it the powerful path to the kingdom?

It is because it is such a simple truth that the enemy has long endured to skew our perception of faith. We buy into the false expectations and misplaced identity. We accept the bars that society sets in order for us to measure up. The enemy wants to see us strive, to be intellectual, to be in a constant state of endeavoring. But God said be like a child. Simple, straightforward, not bogged down by a misrepresented perspective of who we are.

Consider this example, a pole vaulter’s success and therefore value is based on how high thy can vault over a bar. Each time they step on the field they must go higher than before and higher than anyone else. They never achieve an end goal but constantly have to push themselves to do more, do better. We live our faith like that sometimes and we believe that is what God is calling us to do but it’s not.

The faith of a child is significant because a child believes what they are told. They don’t have to reason against circumstances or appearances. They don’t have to push themselves like the pole vaulter. They merely listen to what they are told and they believe.

Why as believers do we listen to Scripture that leads us to know and understand our need for salvation and then spend our lives trying to earn closeness with God? We easily believe that we are sinners and that we need a savior. Sure, we are quick to admit we have our flaws but we fail to see our identity. We are God’s children, He paid the price not just for our salvation but for our identity as well. He restored the freedom to hear and believe and to have faith like a child.