S2E01: Childish or Childlike Faith

You know, starting to going for prayer meeting is a new experience, and for today, thanks to Foong Hee, some kind of "inspiration" to write came over me... Haha.. So here's my musings at 1AM in the morning...

Consider these two passages which talk about being a "child":

• 1 Cor 13:11 - When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.
• Luke 18:17 - I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.

I never really studied child psychology, but to me, a child has the following traits (generally) - INNOCENT & SIMPLE. At the same time, these two traits can be also translated to more negative words - IMMATURE & INEXPERIENCED.

It seems that the Bible tells us to be a child when it come to our FAITH, but not so in our WAYS! Arghhh! It's so complicated!!! Is it a contradiction??

Not really... Let's look at life experience first, shall we?

Just as we get older, we supposedly get more experience in life, right? And this means, we grow more mature in different areas of our lives. But along with that knowledge & experience, we began to give a lot of thoughts to our actions, our understanding & decision grows more complicated.

Why?

Because we want to avoid mistakes from the past! So, as we gain more, we learn not simply accept something unless:

1. We understanding everything...
2. Cover all the bases and...
3. Take what we call "decisions based on calculated risks"!

Simply taking the LEAP OF FAITH is not something easily acceptable, especially when in the ADULT world! Try buying a house based on believe that it all would work out right without checking out the location, checking your finances, knowing the appreciate value, etc....

Now, when it come to SPIRITUAL STUFF, we need to understand it, but do we need to fully understand how it really works to believe it? Notice the subtle difference?

For example, we know about SALVATION right? Here's the summary:

1. Man sinned
2. We all fall from grace
3. God loves us
4. Sends Jesus who died on the cross
5. If we believe then our sins are forgiven
6. We are reconciled with God

The above would need hours to really explain all of it, but do we need to FULLY UNDERSTAND how it really works, as in this salvation thing?

Yeah, we need to learn about why man sinned, why is sin inherent in us, why the world is corrupted as it is today, how does it affect us, and this list goes on and on - and we're just talking about No.1!

But in the end, Jesus has said that we need to just believe - like a CHILD. That's the only way to receive the kingdom of God!

In summary, we are called to grow in our knowledge of God and His Word, so that we would not be CHILDISH in our spiritual thinking, but to achieve that, we need to be CHILDLIKE in our faith and belief.