“Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” – Mark 10:15
Sometimes the best examples of childlike faith come from a child. We celebrated the baptisms of three of our BridgeKids children this past Sunday, ages 8 to 11. We practice “believer’s baptism” at BridgeWay, not “adult” baptism. And a child can believe. I know because I was that child – I accepted Christ at the age of 11.
Now it’s a little tricksy in a “believer’s baptism” church with children because you want to make sure that mustard seed of true faith is there. It’s childlike faith Jesus asks for. Not childish faith. You can ask children, “Do you believe in Jesus?” and they’ll all say, “Yes!” And then you ask, “Do you believe in the Tooth Fairy?” and they’ll say, “Yes!” “Do you believe in Peter Pan?” “Yes!”
See, that’s childish faith. Parents should look for the emergence of childlike faith in a child. Not just someone who parrots out the right answer. What’s the difference?
It always breaks my heart when an adult says to me, “I got baptized in the church I went to as a child but it didn’t mean anything.” That’s telling, but it points to one sign of childlike faith. When you see it in a child, you’ll quickly start to see that Jesus means something to them.
Maxwell was one of the children we baptized on Sunday, and when I visited with him and his parents the day before to pray with him. I told him that story of what people have said to me over the years. Maxwell was astonished and saddened to hear me say it. “What does Jesus mean to you, Maxwell?” I asked him. “Jesus means everything!” he quickly replied, with full seriousness.
Another sign to look for when true childlike faith is present is evidence that this faith is the start of something that will go on and grow. This evidence doesn’t have to be overwhelming. A little tiny seedling of an apple flower on a tiny branch in April proves that you still have an apple tree in front of you. And a little tiny seedling of childlike faith coming from the mouth of a child proves that you have a follower of Christ in front of you.
This doesn’t mean that the child has to understand everything. A child can say, “I believe that Jesus died for my sins,” and mean it, even though later on they will grow in their understanding of what that really means. It’s like a child who says, “I must never stick my fingers in an electric socket,” even though they have no understanding of how electricity works. But that simple knowledge will save them from harm, just as much as it will save them from harm when they are older and understand much more of how electricity works. (And honestly, will you and I ever get to the bottom of that beautiful truth that Jesus died for my sins?)
A little tiny seedling of childlike faith coming from the mouth of a child proves that you have a follower of Christ in front of you.
And another thing: simple, childlike faith doesn’t mean you have to have really big sins to confess. A child understands right and wrong and good and evil very early on. I remember telling a lie to my mother when I was in first or second grade. Even with just a tender conscience, I knew that I had broken her heart, and Jesus’s heart too. Heaven and hell were battling it out right then in my child’s heart.
When someone suggests that a child accepting Christ and being baptized isn’t nearly as big a deal as someone later on in life accepting Christ and being baptized because the older a person, the bigger a sin-resume they carry – well that’s just silly hogwash.
Because what would have happened to that lie I told my mother if she hadn’t nipped it in the bud? Like a small cancer cell, it would have grown. A small lie becomes a big lie becomes a torrent of lies, until one day, ‘Liar!’ is stamped on my character. A child still has a sin nature, it’s just not grown up yet.
So what would you rather have for your children – that they enter adulthood with a garbage-heap of full-grown sins to deal with, or with just a lot of weaker ones, that you’ve been playing whack-a-mole with for 18 years, by disciplining them and teaching them how to stay close to Jesus?
Simple, pure, childlike faith is all that’s needed to save us. And save you. Jesus is the door to the kingdom of God, and it’s very easy if you want in. Just come to him, like that child. Run to him even. “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved,” the Bible says. God has leveled the playing field so that all can enter. For a child who knows little, to a scholar who thinks he knows everything (though honestly he knows little), there’s room. Just call on Jesus in childlike faith and he will save you.