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May 28, 2024 18:00pm

Childlike Faith

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Every morning for the past two weeks I’ve been able to sit on my front porch, drink my coffee while reading my devotional and Bible, and watch a tiny family of birds in their nest. The nest is no bigger than the palm of my hand, tucked away in the corner where porch column meets roof, where the mama bird wisely built it to be protected from wind and rain.

Each morning, she flutters onto my strand of porch lights and then hops over to her eagerly awaiting little ones. The instant she lands, six tiny heads pop up from their hiding place and stretch out their soft, fuzzy necks. Each one cranes as tall as it can get while chirping loudly for mom’s attention. They open their beaks wide, and mom fills each one with sustenance in turn.

In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it” (Mark 10:15).

We are to come to God in childlike faith.

Childlike faith is dependent. Those tiny birds waiting for their mother to bring food each morning are utterly helpless without her. If she doesn’t bring her discovery of bugs and worms back to the nest and place it in their mouths, they will starve. Our faith in God must be dependent like that. We are dependent on Christ—that his death on the cross satisfied every requirement for our salvation from sin. Without him, we are woefully helpless to save ourselves (Ephesians 2:1–9). We are also dependent on him every day to give us what we need—our food, our clothing, every breath we take, and everything we need to be spiritually sustained from his Word (Acts 17:25; 2 Peter 1:3).

Childlike faith is receiving. Baby birds open their beaks expecting to receive something. Their mouths are empty; they long to be filled. But they have nothing to fill it with on their own, so they must open wide to receive from their mother. In the same way, we must come to God empty-handed but expecting to receive. Isaiah 55:1 says, “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” We come knowing we have nothing to offer, nothing to purchase our way into the kingdom. We only have empty, sin-stained hands that God can cleanse and fill by his grace through the gift he gives us of redemption and faith in Christ. We can come expectantly, knowing that God says if we ask, we will receive, and anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (Matthew 7:7–8; Romans 10:13). Those who hope in him will not be put to shame (Romans 5:5, 10:11).

Childlike faith is active. We are dependent on God for everything, and we receive entrance into his kingdom only because of his sovereign grace, but once we are in the kingdom, we are not to be lazy. If one of those baby birds decided they were not going to open up when mama bird came around with their meal, they would die. Even if just by instinct, the baby bird wants to grow and become strong. We too should want to grow in our faith. Being childlike does not mean that we avoid the hard work of being a Christian, such as daily Bible reading and prayer or taking steps to kill our sinful impulses and habits. It does not mean that we avoid learning more about God and his Word by skipping Sunday morning sermons, Bible study, or hard-to-understand passages in the Bible. We are to stay dependent on God for our daily needs in all things, spiritually and physically, but we are not to be passive in our growth or remain simple-minded in our understanding of God’s Word. We should not long to stay children, being tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, but should strive to grow in maturity till we reach the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:13–14).

So as you come to God’s kingdom, come humbly and open-handed expecting to receive what you could not earn—grace upon grace, the forgiveness of your sins, and life everlasting. But also come expecting to grow, to learn, and to be changed, laboring with all his energy that he powerfully works in us (Colossians 1:28–29).