Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, ³ and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. ⁴ Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:2-4

Young people. Those words alone are usually enough to start a debate with supporters on polar opposite ends of the spectrum. The old clichés quickly fall off the tongue; they’re so rude, they have no ambition, they have no manners, they are not like they were in my day.

I wonder then what Jesus meant when he said “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. ⁴ Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

Obviously, we cannot regress and shouldn’t be childish as we mature. And I would pretty much imagine that he did not mean we should take on any of the negative connotations in the paragraph above. I think that verse 4 holds the clue in the word ‘humble’.

It has been my experience that the older people become, coupled with the more they learn and more that they perceive they know, the more they begin to rely on themselves and leave less to God. That is where we differ from children. Young children especially have an innocence and will just trust the person who seems to know the way.

Perhaps we should take a lesson from them and trust in our heavenly father to lead us home. Food for thought.

Oslo Gospel Choir sing ‘I give you my heart’. Click on the picture to listen.