Child-Like Faith

There is an extraordinary little girl I know. She is 4 1/2, very bright, very inquisitive, and very spirited. She has amazing parents too.

Something so sweet and beautiful happened on Easter Sunday. Here is the story that her mom told me.

"The week before Easter Sunday, we had been reading every night in her children's bible about Jesus. One day she asked me, 'Where does Jesus live?' I told her that he lived in heaven, but that he also lives in my heart. She began asking if he lived in daddy's heart and several other people's hearts and I told her yes. Then she looked at me and said, 'But Jesus doesn't live in my heart.' I told her all she needed to do was pray and ask him to come and live in her heart. Later that evening, when she and her daddy were reading the bible before bed, they talked about Jesus again. He told her if she wanted to, he would pray with her about asking Jesus into her heart. She told him, 'No daddy, I'm afraid it will hurt when Jesus comes into my heart.' He said, ok, we'll talk about it another day.

On Easter morning while we were all getting ready for church, she came up to me and said she had something to tell me. She said, 'Mommy! I asked Jesus to come live in my heart and it didn't even hurt!' Her eyes were smiling and she was so excited. We talked about it with her and she understands who Jesus is, and that he loves her and wants to be in her life. She doesn't understand the concept of sin yet, but the child-like faith that she has and excitment about Jesus is beautiful."

I was brought to tears when my friend told me this story of her precious daughter. What if we all had that child-like faith?

In Matthew 18 Jesus tells his disciples this....
"And he said; I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. "

Matthew 19:14- Jesus says, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."

I think what Jesus is saying that we need to be like children in the way that they are open, trusting, and receptive. Humility and openness to love, trusting in Him for all things, and believing He can do anything in and through us. That's the child-like mindset we need to have.