Thoughts on life, God, and the beauty of things...

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Faith like a Child


There have been three words on my mind as of late: Child Like Faith. Do any of us really realize what that means? And if we do, do we truly apply it to our lives? What child like faith means is easy, especially for anyone who has ever taken care of or had children. When a child asks for something and you say ‘not yet’, you don’t assume you’ll have to explain why ‘not yet’, just ‘not yet’. You expect the child to trust that you know what’s best for them and that when you say ‘not yet’ it means it is in their best interest. A child doesn’t always understand timing, and health, and money, and the benefit to waiting because their minds have not developed to that point. Their brains have not learnt those concepts so it’s not that you’re holding back information, it’s that you know they won’t fully comprehend the answer. It’s amazing to me how you can tell a child to wait, and depending on the age of the child, they will just say okay. Done. They are now waiting for you to say it’s time. No ands, ifs, or buts. No questions. No doubts, most times... For the most part the child in waiting will either watch what you are doing until whatever they are wanting is ready, or they will go and occupy themselves with something else until you call them; trusting that you will call them when the time is right. Every so often they may come back to you and check in, just in case they have excellent timing and it’s ready, but they trust that you put their request to the top of the list and that you will call them ASAP. Can you imagine how grand life would be if we applied child like faith to our lives concerning God?
The Bible speaks of having faith like children all through the New Testament, and still when God tells me ‘not yet’ I question and I doubt. I once read a quote that says ‘Faith is having doubt, but choosing to believe anyways’. So like that child who periodically comes back to check in, we need to continue to come back to God with our requests, but when the answer is still ‘not yet’ we need to trust that he has our best interests in mind and go back to what we were doing before. We don’t see the big picture, because our minds cannot comprehend; they aren’t developed in that way. So just like a child who hasn’t yet learnt how to comprehend the world, we need to understand that we have not yet learnt how to comprehend the big picture and accept the answers from our Heavenly Father trusting that he has put our request to the top of the list and will call us when it’s time.

They say that I can move the mountains, and send them crashing into the sea.
They say that I can walk on water, if I would follow and believe with faith like a child. –Jars of Clay

‘They’ is Jesus himself. Jesus tells us through The Bible that we can move mountains, literally and figuratively, if we only had the faith to believe. (Matthew 17:20) Mountains! We can move mountains! But we don’t... And sometimes when we try we forget to seek out God’s will in the situation, so that when the figurative mountain doesn’t move we lose faith. Without checking in with God how do we know whether moving that mountain is more detrimental to us then not moving it at all? Not checking in before you move that mountain isn’t having faith in God, it’s more like having faith in yourself. And without God you don’t have the power to move that mountain. It all comes back to not knowing the big picture like God does. If as a child your parents told you to wait and you didn’t, what would happen? Nothing good, I can tell you that much. The food hadn’t been cooked all the way through, the car wasn’t warmed up yet, the movie hadn’t been rewound, you weren’t big enough yet to lift that without dropping it, etc. So now, instead of asking our earthly parents for everything, we ask our Heavenly Father; other than that, is life really any different than it was when you were younger? Except that when the answer is ‘not yet’ you question it, and doubt it, and probably most times ignore it. And we wonder why we live in a world so full of rules and confusion.

Imagine what life would be like with faith like a child. Imagine if you didn’t ignore God’s answers. Imagine if you didn’t question and doubt to the point that you lose your faith. Imagine the faith to move mountains. Life would still be hard, and frustrating, and disappointing, but that’s because of the world in which we live. What child like faith would do for your life is bring you less worry, because God has the answers. It would bring you more joy, happiness, and love, because there’s no need to worry. You wouldn’t have to wonder if you’re doing the right thing, because God would tell you. You would be so caught up in God that if a mountain needed moving, you could move it. I think that by having child like faith you would become more aware of God and what he has for your life, because you would be more focused on hearing what he has to say. And once you are in tune with God, all things are possible.
How have I not been living with child like faith? How have I managed to survive this life without being that close to God? Ah, the key word; survive. Without God you can manage to survive, but with Him you can thrive.

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