A Child's Faith
But Jesus said, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.” Matthew 19:14
I went to the mall today. By myself. Usually I go to the mall with my wife or daughter but not this time. Of course I parked at the wrong entrance, the farthest possible from the proper entrance and so I walked the full length of our small mall. According to Brother-in-law Bruce… I do this often… his nickname for me, ‘wrong-way Mike’…
Anyway, as I was walking through the mall I looked at the faces of those around me. Some faces were very young and some, mature. Some were pretty, I suppose, and others not so much yet my focus was on the pain I saw there, the worry, the stress, and what seemingly came across as a gnawing fear. I looked at the eyes and they all seemed tired and weary and bored.
My heart went out to all these seemingly sad people. My heart prayed for them. And I wondered how I probably looked to them, if they noticed, which they did not… for I had the same sad look as they had, I suppose.
As I rounded a corner I came across the ‘children’s play area.’ Here the faces were healthy, smiling, and glowing. Their eyes seemed to dance with excitement as they played with one another, played on the slide, carefree of the world around them; content with enjoying the moment.
Maybe you are like me. You get caught up in your own little world. Maybe you get caught up in solving a problem or avoiding a problem or sometimes not caring very much. Not caring because the stressful weight of living in this world is hard… a world very, very cold. A foreign world.
A place were joy is swallowed up with grief, with sin. Sometimes I forget and seemingly we Christians forget the joy that we can have, even in a sinful world. Christ told us to be like children. To have the faith of a child. A faith that is relative simple. It doesn’t have all the complexities that we’ve added to faith, to salvation. A child’s faith just believes. Someone once said that there is a kind of genius to simplicity. Someone else said to ‘keep it simply stupid’. I need to remember that and live by that.
As I walked to my car I thought of those things and the simplicity of salvation in Jesus Christ. To be a person who has a thankful heart for all that He’s done and all that He will do. And to be a person who simply believes in what He said, to look towards Him and regain the joy and faith of a little child.
I went to the mall today. By myself. Usually I go to the mall with my wife or daughter but not this time. Of course I parked at the wrong entrance, the farthest possible from the proper entrance and so I walked the full length of our small mall. According to Brother-in-law Bruce… I do this often… his nickname for me, ‘wrong-way Mike’…
Anyway, as I was walking through the mall I looked at the faces of those around me. Some faces were very young and some, mature. Some were pretty, I suppose, and others not so much yet my focus was on the pain I saw there, the worry, the stress, and what seemingly came across as a gnawing fear. I looked at the eyes and they all seemed tired and weary and bored.
My heart went out to all these seemingly sad people. My heart prayed for them. And I wondered how I probably looked to them, if they noticed, which they did not… for I had the same sad look as they had, I suppose.
As I rounded a corner I came across the ‘children’s play area.’ Here the faces were healthy, smiling, and glowing. Their eyes seemed to dance with excitement as they played with one another, played on the slide, carefree of the world around them; content with enjoying the moment.
Maybe you are like me. You get caught up in your own little world. Maybe you get caught up in solving a problem or avoiding a problem or sometimes not caring very much. Not caring because the stressful weight of living in this world is hard… a world very, very cold. A foreign world.
A place were joy is swallowed up with grief, with sin. Sometimes I forget and seemingly we Christians forget the joy that we can have, even in a sinful world. Christ told us to be like children. To have the faith of a child. A faith that is relative simple. It doesn’t have all the complexities that we’ve added to faith, to salvation. A child’s faith just believes. Someone once said that there is a kind of genius to simplicity. Someone else said to ‘keep it simply stupid’. I need to remember that and live by that.
As I walked to my car I thought of those things and the simplicity of salvation in Jesus Christ. To be a person who has a thankful heart for all that He’s done and all that He will do. And to be a person who simply believes in what He said, to look towards Him and regain the joy and faith of a little child.
posted by Michael Byrd at 8:51 AM
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