I've been thinking a little bit about this verse recently, and what it really means to have a "childlike" faith. The problem is, the adjective "childlike" isn't often something we aspire to be -- it implies immaturity, naiviety, perhaps even inappropriateness. I don't know if its just me, but I've often struggled with the idea of a childlike faith when that appears to demand an unquestionning acceptance, perhaps even a need to "leave my brain at the door" when considering issues of faith and Christianity.
And then I look at my own children, who certainly don't accept anything unquestionningly! "Why, Daddy?", "Daddy, how does this work?", "What's this for Daddy?" are just three of the many questions that I hear, almost constantly, when I'm with my children. In their childlike ways they are looking at things they don't understand, trying to make sense of them, trying to understand based on what they already know, and when that proves inadequate, they go looking for someone who can answer their question - usually Mummy or Daddy, but when we let them down, they turn to the one who can always answer any question - Granny - but there's probably a whole other blog there!
Looking at things through their eyes, I can see a model of child like faith I can get to grips with, a way of looking at things with wonder, enthusiasm and excitement. Yes they have questions, but those questions are driven from a genuine desire to know more, to learn, to grow and understand, not from the all too common, cynical desire of adults to poke and prod and question until something falls apart.
They trust the answer they are given as well - when an "authority" does answer their questions, that answer is filed away and is believed - whereas we as adults struggle to accept anything we are told, preferring to believe our own intellect and our own "gut feeling" rather than taking what we are told and trusting.
But of course, there are times when the boys ask questions that cannot be answered, not in a way which is understandable and helpful to a seven year old and a three year old, and the answer has to be "thats not something you need to know at the moment". Do they accept that and move on - well, to be honest, not that well, but they accept it a lot better than we do when presented with a situation we don't understand, a time when our heavenly Father says to us "You don't need to understand that at the moment, just trust me to sort it out".
Thats the kind of childlike faith I want to have... I want to be a child of grace, who revels in my Father's wonderful ways, who approaches each new thing with excitement and anticipation, who tries, tries as hard as I can to really understand, but who accepts when he says, "Not now, Jon, leave that one to me!" Somehow I don't think being childlike is going to be that easy....
Amen my friend. Would you like to join me in playing hide and seek in heaven?
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