Jesus Loves the Little Children

So I figured out a few reasons recently why Christ makes such a big deal about needing to have the faith of a child.

1. During my graduate studies this summer, I read about why generally the older students get, the less they care about reading and curiosity about information and learning in general. It's simple, really. Writes Kylene Beers: "As students move through the grades, they come to value their peers more and more. 'They won't try,' we say. Instead, we fail to see that they are trying - they are just trying at what matters the most: keeping some form of respect with their peers."

This doesn't go away. Adults are even worse at this. It's the reason I work hard on my lawn and make improvements to my house. Those are great things to do; but ultimately, my motivation is the respect of my peers. I guarantee I spent more time on my lawn this summer than I did reading the Bible. The more I thought about this quote by Beers, the more I connected it with Christ's statement. He wants child-like faith - the kind of faith that is curious and passionate and joyful, the kind of thing that a child can't wait to tell the next person who walks through the door about. Not the kind that is worried about what his/her neighbor is thinking.

2. Recently my wife was at our table frustrated beyond belief at our checkbook and it's refusal to balance. Mad mad. Tears mad. Throwing the checkbook across the room mad. We've all been there. She isn't there often, but she was definitely there. If I'm honest, my immediate thought was, This is akward. What do I do now to help her stop crying so I feel less uncomfortable? It's what I think when I see anyone crying: I feel akward. I tried to speak reasonably to her and tried to convince her the checkbook simply wasn't that big of a deal. Basically, I tried to smooth things over so I wouldn't feel so akward and could eat my breakfast and drink my coffee without the burden of trying to figure out how to help her. Don't get me wrong, I didn't want her to feel bad. I just don't want to lie and pretend I also didn't want me to feel bad either.

My nearly 3 year old daughter is much wiser. Much more like what Christ wants. She was in the room, probably wondering what the heck was going on. She walked out of the room, came back in carrying a stuffed teddy bear, carried it to my wife and said, "Here you go, Mom. This will make you feel better. I love you." Then she hugged her. Way better course of action than mine.

3. There are some songs in church that I enjoy singing, and there are some songs that I endure being played. My demeanor probably isn't significantly different in either case. The last time we were in church, we just got done singing "On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand." Great song. I'm a big fan of that song. My wife and I have sung the chorus to Elise my daughter a couple of times, and she recognized it. Immediately after the song was done, the congregation was dead silent. Right then Elise yells out, "HEY! They just sang On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand." The couple hundred people in the room all heard it and let out an audible chuckle. I had to be proud. I sang the song and stood dutifully. She was passionate about it.

I am now seeking more and more a child-like faith.