Heavenly CHILDishness…!

Let’s read Matthew 18:1-3

“… the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, UNLESS YOU CHANGE AND BECOME LIKE LITTLE CHILDREN, YOU WILL NEVER ENTER THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN”.

Most of us if not all of us have those occasional nostalgic moments of wishing to be a child again. Wishing to be free from the stress and strain of adulthood. Ever wondered what the reasons could be? Let’s look at a few basic differences between a CHILD and an ADULT – A Child is dependent, an Adult is independent; A Child always lives in the present, an Adult wants to live in the present but is either too worried about the future or is too unhappy about the past; A Child is more open to learning and correction when compared to an Adult.

When God created man, He made him as a Spiritual CHILD, innocent and dependent. “The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Gen 2:9b).Then “The LORD God commanded the man, saying, ‘You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, FOR IN THE DAY THAT YOU EAT OF IT YOU SHALL SURELY DIE” (Gen 2:16, 17).  

What God meant was this – “The day you eat of the Tree of Good and Evil you will Spiritually DIE as a CHILD and become an ADULT”. Alas! Man ate the forbidden fruit and died as a Spiritual CHILD. From the Biblical perspective we can say that a CHILD feeds on the “Tree of Life” and an ADULT feeds on the “Tree of the Knowledge of Good & Evil”.

The “Tree of Life” is symbolic of the living WORD of God (The Bible), whereas the “Tree of the Knowledge of Good & Evil” is symbolic of the multifaceted WORLD of self-righteousness, self-sufficiency, self-glory, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life(1 John 2:16).

Hence, in the above scripture portion Jesus is asking us to “CHANGE AND BECOME LIKE LITTLE CHILDREN”…!!. In other words He is saying “Put your Spiritual ADULTHOOD to death and be born again as a CHILD, to dwell in the Kingdom of God” (read John 3:3).

A CHILD depends on God fully – An ADULT defends himself foolishly..!!