Matthew 18:2–3 -- On Learning and Unlearning

"And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,
And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven."
Matthew 18:2–3


We spend a lot of our lives growing up and trying to be more mature, and in some ways that is good. We do need to learn patience instead of temper tantrum, less selfishness and more reaposibility for our actions, and grow in our knowledge of God and our service to him. On the other hand, we learn a lot of negative things as we grow up as well. Cynicism replaces a lot of our faith, trust, and natural affection. We become desensitized to a lot of evil just to be able to live normally, and we often become heavily burdened with concerns that we prioritize before God.

When God tells us that we need to become like little children I think he is encouraging us not to go back and throw tantrums, but to regain our sense of wonder at the nature and power of God rather than being doubtful and cynical. I think he's asking us to trust him with the childlike faith that is still inside us somewhere, hidden from the scary machinations of the world. He wants us to trust him enough to let him guide our lives rather than trying to control everything ourselves.

Today, let's work on retaining the best parts of being a child, and the best parts of being an adult, and letting go and unlearning the bad lessons. Let's be responsible and loving, trusting and patient. Let's look to our father with adoration and confidence as we take his hand and walk in his way.