Being a Child

Imagine being like a little child again and believing everything you hear. There is something so wonderful about that trusting, open-hearted naïveté that God loves.

The more I have grown up, the more I realize that maturity in Christ is all about “growing down.” It is about becoming a child again. Not being childish but being childlike in our ways and our thinking.

For years, Psalm 131 has been my favorite psalm. I love the thoughts expressed here: “My heart is not proud, Lord, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content” (Psalm 131:1-2).

The whole psalm has only three verses, but I could preach for my whole life on it.

I like it in all versions. I love where it says, “I am like a weaned child with its mother.” In The Message it reads, “I’ve kept my feet on the ground, I’ve cultivated a quiet heart. Like a baby content in its mother’s arms, my soul is a baby content” (verse 2).

Can you remember curling up with your mother and not worrying about anything? Have you ever experienced that sense that everything is well with the world and you don’t have to do anything to be loved? That is such an amazing feeling.

Jesus was clear about how He saw children. In Matthew 18:2-4, we read:

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. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

Being like a child in this way is actually the perfect picture of what it means to be a strong, responsible, mature adult Christian. It means having so much faith in Daddy that we can rest and be content.

We are not meant to grow up, but down. Have you experienced this in your life? In what way is Daddy God inviting you to “grow down” today?

Excerpted from Reckless Devotion by Heidi & Rolland Baker, Copyright © 2014, Chosen Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group. Used with permission.