I am chewing on a thought this morning…childLIKE faith is not childish faith.

We are taught by Jesus the importance of having a simplistic faith like a child~

Matthew 18:3 unless you repent and change your thinking to become like children (trusting, humble, and forgiving) you will not enter the Kingdom of God.

Mark 10:15 whoever does not receive and welcome the Kingdom of God like a child will not enter it.

However, when I think of children the first thing that can come to my mind is their lack of maturity, their lack of experience, their childishness.

In fact, 1 Corinthians 13:11 even suggests that when the apostle Paul became a man he did away with childish things…as if those things were not “good” as an adult.

That brings me to the conclusion that there are 2 different meanings here: what I perceive to be a negative in regards to childish ways and being childlike.

Childish is being immature.

Childish does not have to with age.

Childish is in spite of experiences and knowledge.

Childlike is a response from within.

Childlike is acceptance of something as it is.

Childlike is awe and wonder.

Childlike is trusting in the unknown.

In the middle of a tornado when I was a kid, my dad sent me to the basement with my mom while he stood watch in the driveway.

Digression warning!

To stand in the driveway and watch the sky is dangerous during a tornado warning!!

However…

This is what Michigander’s do.

I went to the basement willingly because I trusted my dad that he was sending me somewhere safe. I trusted my dad to keep a watch out for us

When he suddenly came running to the basement because the tornado was actually hitting my neighborhood at that exact time, I know I was scared but I still trusted that we were safe.

Why is that?

1. I had always been taught the basement is where you are safest during a tornado. I did not question that truth as a child..I accepted it.
2. My dad told me we would be ok.
3. My mom was praying.

I didn’t need much more than that to feel secure as a kid.

I had childlike faith in something I did not understand and could not control.

ChildISH faith looks very different…it takes all my experiences and knowledge and casts it aside saying “in spite of all I know….in spite of all I have been taught….I refuse to believe”.

In that storm childish faith would have looked like shear terror.

I am not joking when I said the tornado hit my neighborhood that day…it actually lifted my friend’s house up off the foundation one block over.

There was so much to be terrified of during that huge storm!

But I trusted we would be ok…and thankfully, we were.

In the storms of life, we are going to have our faith tested in the same way.

That is just the reality.

Why is that?

I think it is because it is when the devil knows we are weakened, our guard is down from fatigue, we are wounded, we are hungry (physically or spiritually)…

Matthew 4 tells of Jesus being tempted by Satan after He was hungry and tired…

Satan had to wait for 40 days to tempt Jesus…He had the patience to wait until that right moment when Jesus “should” be vulnerable.

Think back over your life….think of those dark days, intense grief, incredible pain, absolute thirst or hunger, paralyzing panic…

Is that where a fight broke out between you and a loved one?

Is that where you caved in to overindulging with food, drugs, or alcohol?

Is that where a temptation to cheat on your spouse became more appealing?

Is that where the desire to flee and abandon those you love rose up from within you? To quit living even?

Heck yeah it happened then.

I know because it has happened with me.

After the pain, I can see the Lord’s hand of protection and guidance so clearly…I can also see Satan’s arrows.

Our enemy is real: he knows when to attack and where our Achilles heel is to wound us.

If our faith is childish, it will be easier to abandon what we know about God, what we have been taught in the Bible, where to turn for our anchor in the storm.

If our faith is childlike, WE WILL BELIEVE IN WHAT WE CANNOT SEE AND CLING TO THE ONE WHO HAS ALREADY OVERCOME EVEN WHEN IT HURTS TO BREATHE!!

That is the HUGE difference in faith walking…

Spending time with the Lord each day will help you to trust Him more fully and that trust will carry you through whatever the devil comes at you with.

Remember, the THIEF came to kill and destroy but JESUS came to give us abundant Life.

If you are not living what you feel is abundant, full to overflowing life then I would encourage you to look into what you believe…

Are you living what you believe?

I believe firmly that even in the midst of the most incredible fear,pain,grief, or illness we can still have JOY and PEACE because I believe in the One who promised me I could.

Some days I need a firm reminder of that belief and trust but that does not be mean my faith has waivered. It means I am human.

I guess I may want to be more childlike than I once thought.