The Little OnesNäide

Childlike Heart

Dependent, vulnerable, trusting, and loving. These are words that come to mind when I think of the little ones in our lives. They need their parents or guardians and cannot imagine life without them. 

When disciplined, my toddler would run straight into my arms or his father's arms. He does not stop reaching out to us because we are his place of comfort and safety. He needs us, and he instinctively knows it. He cannot imagine life without us. My little one’s behavior reminds me of David's statement in Psalm 139:7: "Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?"

David was a man after God's heart because he kept seeking God despite his inadequacies. When God rebukes him, he was always quick to repent. He knew God was his place of comfort and safety. He knew he could not hide from God, his shepherd. He was childlike at heart.

God wants us to be childlike at heart—quick to run back to Him when we fall short. We should receive God's discipline like a child. When we run back to God, we are acknowledging our dependence on Him as a father who loves perfectly and knows what is best for us.

For an answer Jesus called over a child, whom he stood in the middle of the room, and said, “I’m telling you, once and for all, that unless you return to square one and start over like children, you’re not even going to get a look at the kingdom, let alone get in. Whoever becomes simple and elemental again, like this child, will rank high in God’s kingdom. What’s more, when you receive the childlike on my account, it’s the same as receiving me. Matthew 18:2-5 (MSG)

Being dependent, vulnerable, trusting, and loving on God shows we are childlike at heart.