I want to give you two people that seem completely opposite
yet have much in common.
1. A three year old who walks fearlessly throughout the
house; climbing on everything he shouldn’t, seeking adventure, seeking
excitement, seeking life. This child has
no care in the world. He just lives. Then one day as he is climbing on top of the
dining room table he falls. In fear and
pain he throws his arms in the air and yells for mommy as tears roll down his
face.
2. A 76 year old man
who had fallen in love with the Lord in his mid 30’s. Life is slowing him down, as each step he
takes shoots pain into his lower back.
His mind is a bit loose, but still working. He walks into the doctor’s office to get the
results of a random blood test taken a week earlier. He is informed that he has a rare form of
cancer and is not expected to survive beyond 4 weeks due to its aggressive
nature. In fear and pain, he sits down,
takes a deep breath and mumbles the words, “Lord you give and you take away,
blessed be your name”.
What do the two have in common? They both are childlike in their faith.
The first is born with a nature to trust his mom or dad for
the bare essentials in life. He trusts,
as a toddler, that mom and dad want what is best for him and will take care of
his needs. He trusts that if he is
injured or afraid, all he has to do is throw up his arms and call out for mom
or dad and they will be right there by his side taking care of his every need.
The older gentleman, after coming to Christ, had to re-learn
what it meant to trust whole heartedly in someone outside of himself. He had to learn that he was not in control of
his life, and that he needed God to guide him through the mess. After growing and maturing in the Lord, he
has come to a childlike faith again, in which he can withstand devastating
news, such as a life threatening diagnosis.
Those are two scenarios, but in between those two scenarios
is life. The baby grows up, and realizes
that this world is scary. That it takes
work to feed yourself and provide for your bare necessities, and, child becomes
aware to the fact that life is fleeting and is fragile, any day could be his
last. This fear turns into anxiety and
stress. Stress that keeps him up at
night with his mind spinning. Stress
that causes him to do some unthinkable things to get by in life.
Then one day, this child learns of Jesus, and learns that
his stress and anxiety are all a byproduct of his sin nature and that there is
a God who cares and a God who can deliver him from this anxiety. He learns that there is someone he can trust
in again and that he was not designed to live this life alone.
As he embraces God, through a relationship with Jesus, peace
slowly enters in again. Life doesn’t
necessarily turn around (as each new year holds it’s new problems) but his
perspective on life begins to change as he learns to trust again.
This is how we are to live life, as a child who throws his
hands up in the air with the complete confidence that our God will reach down
from above and uphold us. Isaiah tells
us not to fear for God will uphold us with his righteous right hand.
In those moments of complete disparity, how does one rely on
God like a child?
Let’s let Philippians 4:6-7 teach us.
“…do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by
prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to
God. 7 And the peace
of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your
minds in Christ Jesus.”
The key to becoming childlike again is to do childlike
things. Ask God for help. Simple, right? It is that simple. We don’t need a Bible degree or be on the VBS
committee of the church to have direct access to God’s unfailing love, we need
a relationship with Jesus that starts with believing in him.
So maybe you are filled with stress, and anxiety. Ultimately that is rooted in adult like
fear. Go back to your childlike ways,
and throw your hands up and cry out for your Father! He will catch you.
