Child-like faith
They say we learn every day and really, don’t we? In my early days as a mom, I learnt some pretty big lessons in my Christian walk. I remember one of the feeding sessions with the twins. There I was, feeding my son and he must have suckled for about 15 minutes. Then I noticed he wasn’t swallowing anymore. He had his lips well rounded, but I could tell he wasn’t feeding. And as if he had not shown his disinterest enough, he had a long, blank, i-can’t be-bothered stare on his face. Since I was new to motherhood and still learning how to read baby cues, I kept on trying to persuade him to have some more, but he wouldn’t budge.
After several failed/frustrating attempts, I thought it would be a smart idea to show him who the boss was and so I tried to sit him in an attempt to change him to the other side. At that very instant, he burped, spilling some undigested milk on my shoulder. How smart of me, huh? Every mother knows that what followed wouldn't have been a pretty sight.
Lesson learnt (and I must say, not in the most glamorous way): You can’t force a baby to eat more when they are full.
Then Matthew 19:14 made more sense to me.
“Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” (NIV).
To this day, it remains one of those real, beautiful moments which I remember so well and the thought of it gives me goosebumps. This child the good Lord has given me had received adequate nutrition, and his brain had done what it was beautifully crafted to do. And that was to stop feeding!
You see, when we decide to receive the gift of salvation, we are making a declaration to detach ourselves from carnality and all worldly stuff. We then approach God’s throne of grace.
“Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” (NIV).
To this day, it remains one of those real, beautiful moments which I remember so well and the thought of it gives me goosebumps. This child the good Lord has given me had received adequate nutrition, and his brain had done what it was beautifully crafted to do. And that was to stop feeding!
You see, when we decide to receive the gift of salvation, we are making a declaration to detach ourselves from carnality and all worldly stuff. We then approach God’s throne of grace.
Empty.
His divine love fills us up. As long as we stay close to our source which is the Spirit of God and He is allowed to work in us, whatever the world has to offer becomes less appealing. As we begin to get 'comfortable' in our Christian walk, we recognise that we can talk to God just about anything and everything.
But herein lies the challenge for us. We sometimes approach God with half-filled bellies. And so, when He tries to fill us up, we complain about not getting the satisfaction we earnestly desire. We forget that God never owes. Half-filled bellies you say? You see, those secret back-up plans, occasional compromises and ungodly desires can only lead to what I like to term ‘spiritual diarrhoea’.
Picture this: You take your 3-year old child to a birthday party, say, on the weekend, and they have loads of chocolates, jellies, cakes and any other treat man has ever invented. Of course, they are not only going to be jumpy and restless from all that sugar, but your restroom is sure gonna be receiving a not-so-happy but frequent guest that weekend. Trust me; you don’t want to be the mom in that situation because you’ll be lucky if you get any rest.
Now that is what happens to us when we fill our hearts with carnal stuff and then come to God expecting him to do our bidding. This, we usually do without asking what His will is and being ready to submit to it. We find ourselves getting tossed here and there due to our entanglement with the world, thereby leading to a loss of direction and ultimately, more confusion. Now would it be fair to blame our woes on God? Absolutely not! Does that mean we should not plan? Hear the word of God and I love how the New Living Translation puts it:
“We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps” Proverbs 16:9 NLT.
There you have it!
There you have it!
You know how kids believe everything you tell them and request unbelievable things
from you? I believe that that is exactly how God wants us to trust Him with our plans. Why? Because He’s been there, done that. Like, He is the one that knows the end from the beginning, right?
A child-like faith may not even make sense to you or those around you. No part of the scripture says it needs to make sense. Do these stories ring a bell?
- Gideon and the 300 men
- Elisha, the woman, her sons and the jar of oil
- David and Goliath
I could go on and on.
Bottom line: God’s plans may not make sense to you in the interim, but the best you can do is to have child-like faith and trust His process. He sure knows what He is doing. He wants us to be full of Him because He literally has the whole world in His hands. The keyword here is literally. Honestly, He truly does!
Shalom saints!
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