And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 18:3 (KJV)
Bottom line: Follow God with the heart of a child.
Teaching
Nowadays, many Christians find it difficult to follow God entirely, and the major reason is, that they find it difficult to believe in the Word of God. There are just some things about the Christian faith which is unreasonable to them. Their minds cannot accept certain realities of God’s word.
Well, this happens to them because they have not yet understood that we follow God by faith, not by sight.
For we walk by faith, not by sight:
2 Corinthians 5:7 (KJV)
This means that we don’t follow God with our physical senses, but we believe in his word and hold it to be true even when our natural senses tell us the contrary.
While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:18 (KJV)
Our opening verse says:
And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 18:3 (KJV)
Jesus was telling his disciples here that, you need to have the heart of a child to access the kingdom of God.
A child would believe imaginary stories, whether or not they make sense. Because they don’t reason them out. They just believe because their dad or mom or teacher tells them that it is true.
This is the attitude every Christian must adopt towards God’s Word. We don’t reason out the word of God to find out if it is true. We simply believe it, though we may not understand it. We believe it, because it is the word of our heavenly father, and our Father never lies.
Many Christians have not been able to experience the power of God because they try to reason out a miracle.
How can you explain that a virgin conceives a child without meeting a man? (Isaiah 7:14). How can you explain that a man who was born blind suddenly receives his sight? (John 9:25). How can you explain that a dead man comes back to life after days spent in the tomb? (John 11:43-44). How can you explain that five thousand men were fed from five loaves of bread and two fishes? (John 6:10-13).
These are all miracles. We don’t understand them, but we believe them.
There is a man in the Bible who doubted God’s word because it seemed so unreasonable. He was an adviser to the king of Israel.
Then Elisha said, Hear ye the word of the LORD; Thus saith the LORD, To morrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.
Then a lord on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, Behold, if the LORD would make windows in heaven, might this thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.
2 Kings 7:1-2 (KJV)
Often, God’s word would seem unrealistic. Therefore, we are required to believe it not to reason it out. Eventually, the words of the prophet of God came to pass, but this lord who doubted the word never benefitted from it.
Believe the word of God wholeheartedly just like a child believes every word from his dad. Believe in it even if it doesn’t make sense because it is true. Only the heart of a child can believe God’s word this way. Therefore, have the heart of a child towards God’s word and you shall reap the benefits of his word. Hallelujah.
Further Study
- John 20:29 (KJV) [Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.]
Reflection
- How much confidence will you say you have in God’s word?
- Do you believe every word in the Holy Scriptures is true?
- What are the things that often cause you to doubt God’s word?
Prayer
Dear heavenly father, I thank you because your word is true. I declare that I believe your word with all of my heart because I trust in you wholly. In Jesus’ name, amen.
