A Child's Faith
When we were young children, we hardly have problem with faith. When was it when you saw a child, when he/she learns to walk, fall and said "I will never walk again." Never! Instead, he/she gets up and toddle again. As a parent, we delight in watching our baby boy/girl take the first step. Children are so adorable simply because they are so childlike in their approach. They laugh because they feel happy, they cry when they feel hungry; feed them and they laugh again. Our hearts melt when we see our little ones snuggle up peaceful to sleep, without a hint of worry on their faces.
As we grow older, things seem to change. Life doesn't appear to be as simple as it seemed. Things got greyer by the years. The world snares at us to comform and compromise. Our hearts grew cold and hard with each fleeting disappointment. Our integrity stand grew soft as we are become more short-sighted thus giving in to immediate gratifications. As we become supposedly more educated, we justify and analyze. Too much of that, we nullify and paralyze faith. We become consumed with ourselves; we are embittered by our circumstances. The problem is simply because we "grew up". That doesn't necessarily mean that we mature.
The Bible says very clearly that it is impossible to please God without faith (Hebrews 11:6). To make giant strides for God, a ginourmous faith is required to match that. It is at places of extremities where God meets His people to make giant strides for Him. Abraham was challenged to leave his homeland; Moses did some time in the wilderness; Elijah ran away; Peter had to get his feet wet.
Jesus said, "Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." (Matt 18:3-4). Having a childlike faith is the single most important element to move into the glory of God. Having a childlike faith means that we need to renounce all that we are - our intellect, power, money etc to humble ourselves to a position that we are able have faith and receive accordingly. We need to unlearn what we have learned.
As I peer over the boat, my head screams in retaliation, my muscles tense up, my heart races. It is in places of extremities that God meets His people. It is a childlike faith that God is pleased with. I know in my spirit that this feet is going to get wet. I reckon, a minute on stormy waters with Jesus is better than hours in the boat.
posted by Mel-Vern @ 7:57 PM
1 Comments:
I experienced that ambiguous delicacy when I was in Hong Kong a few years ago. Once you get pass the smell (I had to hold my breath the whole time and quickly place the entire thing into my mouth), the "tau fu" itself tastes quite all right. I'm afraid I did not practice the art of taking dainty bites and chewing the specific amount of times before swallowing. My main priority was to remove the "tau fo" from open air as soon as possible.
Sometimes, the more we learn, the more confused or misguided we become. I am not advocating that we must stop learning or experiencing new things as God uses our time on earth to teach us His will and His ways through life's lessons every day. But waiting on God and trusting His ways even when our mind is aggressively urging us to analyse, scrutinise and dissect the issue and take action is something we must all learn.
I sometimes lament over the loss of my childhood days. Times when things seem so simple, easy and your first thought when you wake up was whether Mummy would serve Quaker Oats or strawberry pancakes for breakfast. Now we stress about money, work, mortgage, etc. We worry that we are not intelligent enough, wealthy enough. We blaze our way through life and try to make our mark in the world. To some extent, we have become disillusioned.
Figuratively, I liken having a childlike faith with this example: When you come to the edge of a cliff, you need to be confident of two things...that you will have solid ground upon which to walk when you take the next step or that you will be given wings to fly. It is about trust in a faithful God who knows what He is doing much more than we do. It is about closing our eyes and letting God lead even when it is through storms and deserts. It is about coming to God not as a last resort but as the first step.
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