"Faith Like A Child" - Devo #15

As of Friday afternoon, myself along with 19 other members from our college worship band, Hope-Overflow, have embarked on our service trip down to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma followed by our week in Dallas, Texas.

Last night, we had our first run-through of our setlist featuring a list of 14 different worship songs we’ve rehearsed over the last 6 months. We stopped at a small church in Yukon, Oklahoma where we were able to share our passion for Christ through music with the middle and high-schoolers there.

Our last piece to end the night happens to be my favorite: Head to the Heart by United Pursuit.

In it, there is a verse that says this: “You give me faith like a child.”

After hearing and singing those words, I started to consider what it was that I was saying.

“Faith Like A Child”………what the heck does that mean?

So I proceeded to hop into God’s Word to find some answers.

In Luke 18:17, Jesus says,

"Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

I found that pretty harsh, and wasn’t sure if that meant I needed to go back to my 8-year old attitude and high-squealing voice, but I was pretty sure it wasn’t.

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Growing up, I always asked my parents for something when I realized I couldn’t do something without their help. I didn’t always go to them when I had something exciting that was going on.

They usually found out from a secondary source, such as a friend’s mom, social media, or when I mentioned something to them a week or day before an event was taking place.

Boys these days, I guess?!

But isn’t it funny how often, we might ask God for something when we really need Him to be there for us, but we may forget that we can give Him our thanks and praise Him even when we don’t have anything to request from Him? I can’t even imagine what the number would be of each time I only went to God when I needed Him. God was like my earthly father (who I call dad) when I needed money or to borrow his car. I wouldn’t see if he wanted to do something exciting, or see what I could do to brighten his day. I was only focused on myself, just as a child would be.

But wait……….I thought God said to be like a child when we are ready to enter Heaven?

I’m pretty sure He wasn’t thinking we go back to our old ways. I believe that God wants us to have faith like a child in knowing we have so much more to learn.

As a child, we were so curious to learn and eager to figure out everything that went on in the world around us.

Could you imagine if we channeled that same level of excitement or curiosity into seeking God’s Word and helping others to learn about Him just as we’re still learning about Him as His children?

Another thing our parents most likely had was their “No……because I said so” moments where we were given an answer we didn’t want. This was because they knew what was best for us, and they were looking out for our future.

In a very similar way, God does the exact same thing, just on a much larger scale. He is always looking out for us, even when we forget about the work He’s putting in behind the scenes.

Jesus says in Matthew 17:20

“If your faith is as big as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. All things will be possible for you.”

As far as being a child of God and having this kind of power, (I don't mean we'll move Mount Everest, on command, with our faith) with faith as small as a mustard seed, God can make all things possible for us.

He requires the smallest amount of belief in Him, and all God wants in addition to that mustard-seed sized faith is to keep His commandments and continue to seek Him daily!

With the smallest amount of faith in God, authentic and honest faith, God will provide a multitude of blessings that can only be realized when we understand how the great things in our life take place.

With faith like a child, we can come to realize that there is no end page to what we can learn about God and His plans for all of us!

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I'll end the morning with this not-so-brief passage from 2 Peter 1:5-8:

Because you have these blessings, do your best to add these things to your lives: to your faith, add goodness; and to your goodness, add knowledge, and to your knowledge, add self-control; and to your self-control, add patience; and to your patience, add service for God; and to your service for God, add kindness for your brothers and sisters in Christ; and to this kindness, add love. If all these things are in you and are growing, they will help you to be useful and productive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

With that all said,

Live, love, and be loved.