Childlike Faith - Romans 8:26-27

Have you ever known someone who, no matter how old they were, seemed more like a child than an adult?  It’s like they chose to never grow up – sort of like the Tom Hanks character in the movie “Big”, from 1988 (32 years ago). Today’s readings remind us that God wishes for us to be more like children, to have a childlike faith. Having a childlike faith enables us to grow in wisdom.
 
Looking at the readings: The First Reading from Wisdom shows us how gentle and delicately God deals with us, his children. It says, “With much lenience He governs us”. He judges with “clemency”. He shows mercy, compassion and forgiveness.  He gives his children “good ground for hope.” These are attributes that any good parent would aspire to for themselves in dealing with their own children.
 
The Second Reading then speaks to our best response in prayer to God’s gracious tolerance. Just as there have been times when our kids come to us flustered, confused and not making a lot of sense, we find ourselves (at times) similarly feeling weak and lost and without the right words to say. In fact, frequently words just get in the way. But God knows our good intentions and sees our hearts. Paul tells us, “The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes with inexpressible groanings.”
 
In the Gospel, Jesus uses parables to help distinguish two types of children - the “children of the kingdom” versus the “children of the evil one.” We might look at this contrast as a contrast between two entirely different paths that we may take. One is “childlike”, the other “childish.”
 
In First Corinthians we hear, “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways”.  Childish ways lead to only a superficial knowledge of God. It asks God to work on our behalf. It fills our prayers with telling God what he can do for us. Childish ways lead to self-focus, and lead to doubt and fear and greed.
 
Rather than focusing on the negative, on childish the ways, let’s instead consider three ways that each of us can be more childlike:      1) having faith like a little child, 2) becoming dependent like a little child, and 3) living our lives like we are loved as a child.
 
1-Have faith like a little child.  In Mark’s Gospel Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” We don’t have to be a little child to enter the kingdom, but we do need to be like a little child.
 
Let’s think for a minute what characteristics little children possess when it comes to faith. They are innocent and sincere. They’re eager to learn. They are teachable, humble, trusting, open, simple, and spontaneous. They are unpretentious. Are we those things? Are we humble? We need to take the Holy Spirit up on His offer to come to our aid, to help us approach God like a little child. Sometimes we make faith too hard, too difficult, too complex, too...adulterated! Sometimes, it’s just coming to God as we are, as children in need of the loving, merciful, lenient, and forgiving Father we heard about today. He knows our hearts, knows our goodness and he had solutions for us before we knew of our problems.
 
2- Become dependent like a little child. Little children really don’t have much to offer. Sure, they’re cute, fun to play with, we like to hold them in our arms and give them smooches. But they can’t earn a paycheck. They can’t cook a meal, or wash clothes. They can’t cut the grass. They can’t serve on committees, or even unload the dishwasher. They have no real autonomy. They have no self-security. They have no self-sufficiency. Little children are dependent upon others for their very survival.
 
We must come before God with our insignificance, our lack of ultimate security, and our total dependence upon him, and avail ourselves of his mercy. He is the potter and we are the clay. He is the creator and we are the created. He is the perfect one and we are the sinful ones. He is the forgiver and we are the ones in great need of forgiveness.
 
If nothing else, this season of COVID19 has given us a greater sense of our dependence. We’ve gained a keener sense that we’re entitled to very little. Even those things we have claimed to have built ourselves and counted on as our security, are no sure things. In fact, in the end, we come to realize that they’ve all been gifts.
                                                                                                                                
In the story of the rich young man, this fellow wanted to know what he had to do to enter the kingdom of heaven. Jesus mentioned the commandments, and the guy responded, “Best I know, I’ve kept them all.” Jesus said, “You only lack one thing: you need to give all your money to the poor and follow me.” And the guy couldn’t do it. He walked away sad. The point: Yes, we must be responsible for ourselves and to those we love in our earthly lives, but in the larger scheme of things, we must be totally dependent upon God to enter his kingdom.
It has been said that is the small children who model true believers, who know they have nothing to bring and everything to receive.
 
3- Live our lives like we are loved as a child. There may be no sweeter term of endearment in the scriptures than when we hear in the Psalms, “Lord, keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings.” Looking at that expression literally and through the lens of faith, the “apple” refers to the part of the human eyeball in which, if you look closely, you can see yourself reflected. As we move closer to God, we see a tiny image of ourselves mirrored in those eyes.
 
The Lord is looking at us so intently, with so much love and compassion that he sees much more in us than we could ever see in ourselves.  What this is telling us is that, part of what it means to be the object of his affection is to understand that his greatness makes us small, and we’re okay with that. Though we are not at all insignificant, our sufficiency comes from his strength, and he exalts us when we humble ourselves before Him.
 
We are in the middle of the Lord’s field of vision and He loves us more than we can ever imagine! As he gazes on us, we bring him joy and fill his heart with affection. He loves us desperately. He delights in sharing every moment of our lives as he provides for, comforts, and takes care of us, just like a loving and compassionate Father. If we live our lives like we are loved as a child, all the background noise that distracts us will fade.
 
Karl Barth was one of the great theologians of the twentieth century. Towards the end of his life, Barth was asked for the greatest insight he had ever gained throughout his long years of study and scholarship. Everyone leaned in to listen to his much anticipated, profound response. His pearl of wisdom was this: “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong, they are weak but he is strong.” At the end of the day, we must live for an audience of one, our loving Father, whose love is unending and unconditional!
 
And so, let us pray: Thank you, Lord God. In our weakness, we have given you countless reasons not to love us, but none of those reasons seems to have changed your mind.  We don’t always know the right words to say, but you know our hearts.  We know that, at our best, we are totally dependent upon your mercy, compassion and forgiveness for our salvation. Help us to accept that fully, knowing that we are deeply loved, deeply forgiven, and valued for who we are—your children—and not for anything we have done. We rest on that love today. We proclaim this both humbly and boldly through Christ our Lord, Amen!