As Little Children
"I thank thee, 0 Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things
from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes, for so it seemed
good in Thy sight"-Matt.
There are many touching
and beautiful references to children in the Scriptures. Among them none is more
important or of deeper significance than the one contained in the 18th chapter
of Matthew's gospel.
Christ's life mission was
to provide a way of life and to teach men to walk in it. In this chapter we
find the Great Teacher propounding a fundamental lesson with a graphic, unforgettable
illustration. He came to teach Truth to a world which had, in the unbounded confidence
of its ignorance, developed for itself an intricate and highly plausible system
of philosophic self-deception.
This system, even in
Christ's day, was already venerable with age. In fact we find it in full bloom
10 centuries earlier at the time that David lived and wrote, as his 49th Psalm
clearly shows. Its keynote is found in v. 18 of that Psalm,
"Men will praise thee
when thou doest well to thyself."
This has been man's
watchword from the childhood of the race. If a man spends his time benefiting himself, building up wealth and power and prestige, he will
be honored and flattered and fawned upon. The same banner of glorious selfishness
still waves in unchallenged supremacy today.
So ingrained by centuries
of repetition and habit is this principle of predominant self-consideration
that it is often unquestioningly taken for granted as a basis of interpreting
Christ's teaching, even among the brotherhood.
As this chapter opens, we
find Christ's own chosen disciples eagerly crowding around him as each
confidently pressed his claim to the honor of pre-eminence-over which they had
previously disputed among themselves.
"At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the Kingdom o f heaven?"-verse 1.
Can we imagine the
feelings of Jesus? How utterly alone he
must have felt! How overpowering the consciousness that he alone of the earth's
millions could see through its headlong folly! How crushing the weight of his single-handed
task of instruction and enlightenment!
"And Jesus called a little child unto him, and
set him in the midst of them"-verse 2.
On another occasion the
disciples had imperiously forbidden children to bother Christ. The setting up
of the kingdom was a work for men, they said. The glorious, majestic Messiah of
Israel had no time for children.
He had been very angry on
that occasion as he rebuked their proud and misguided zeal. Here again a great
and fundamental lesson is to be driven home.
"Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?" they had asked. How they
underestimated the privilege of their position and the difficulties of the long,
hard road that lay before them! Christ's answer fell with sobering weight on
their enthusiastic rivalries. They were going far too fast. Entrance into the Kingdom
was no foregone conclusion as they had hastily assumed. Directing their
attention to the despised child in their midst, he said (v. 3)
"Verily I say unto you, Except
lie be converted, and become as little children, ye shall NOT ENTER into the
Kingdom of heaven."
Here was a new and
bewildering viewpoint. The children whom they had thrust away were set before
them as examples of the attitude to which they must be converted if they would
so much as even gain an entrance to the Kingdom, let alone be greatest in it.
In what
way are we to become as children? Mainly in unlearning many of the lessons that the world has carefully
taught us. In going back to childhood's viewpoint that we may learn anew in
truth from Christ. How early the world teaches its children selfishness
and ambition and bitterness and distrust! This is the sordid legacy that is carefully
handed down. Even if it can give us nothing else, it takes infinite pains to
teach us this.
This third verse is not
merely a pleasing figure of speech. It is not to be contemplated abstractly
with a warm glow of sentimental approbation. It is a positive command, an absolute
ultimatum.
"Whosoever shall not
receive the
The world regards itself
and us as men-wonderful, mature, self-dependent creatures of vast intellect and
even vaster importance. And it engages with an amusing, but tragic, obsession
in a multitude of pursuits which it describes by various flesh-appealing
phrases, such as "getting somewhere." "being
somebody," "amounting to something" and similar terms. All of
which represent, in the main, the accumulation
of various amounts of property, prestige and power (often quite useless and
always troublesome), each increasing in desirability as it becomes inaccessible
and enviable to others less fortunate.
The basis of its operations it terms "self-preservation,
the first law of nature," which, of course, in Scriptural terms, is the
mind of the flesh. In all its activities the world worships maturity,
adulthood, self-reliance, aggressiveness, ambition, and domination.
How necessary and refreshing is the lesson brought to our
attention in this scene from the life of Christ! The world brusquely says, "Adults
only." The gentle message of Christ is, "None but
children."
Before we can receive his blessing we must cast aside
these noble, manly, lofty delusions of self-dependence; we must realize the
paltriness of the achievements upon which the world has built its illusions of
grandeur; and we must unreservedly confess our utter and childish helplessness.
In analyzing the qualities of childhood we must use discernment.
The Bible does not introduce children to our attention as models of
perfection-much to the contrary-but the observing mind will see the lessons
that Christ teaches.
There are certain fundamental characteristics of childhood to
which our notice is drawn. Their existence is explained by the incomplete
development and hardening of the motions of sin, and the limited opportunity
that worldly maturity has had to poison the mind and impressions with its false
wisdom and cut-throat philosophy. Therefore, the younger the
child, usually the better the example.
The first childish quality that is drawn to our attention is
humility. This is the basic lesson of the present chapter:
"Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little
child, the same is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven"-verse 4.
Childlike humility-not a hypocritical or ceremonial self-abasement,
but a free and natural recognition of inferiority, unmarred by any
tendency either to glory in it or to conceal it. The natural reaction of the
normal child before it learns from its elders the questionable worldly
wisdom of pride, deception and dissimulation.
Why is humility necessary? Because it is the inevitable
accompaniment of wisdom and a clear understanding of our position, and its
absence indicates either ignorance or deceit -both equally fatal.
This overlaps another trait of childhood we must possess naturalness.
Society has chosen to lade itself with a thick
clay of sham and artificiality. Outward appearance is made
the all-important thing. The scriptural lesson
is that outward show and inward worth are very rare companions.
To the world's dull senses, intrinsic solemnity and sincerity
have no appeal. It must have the gaudy, mincing pageantry
that, to the eye of wisdom, speaks of a sad emptiness within. Paul suffered
much from shallow minded men who gloried in appearances and belittled his
unreserved heartiness and lack of ostentation.
The unconscious
wisdom of young childhood, which makes no false pretence of splendor,
knowledge, or importance, is a refreshing antidote to the universal adult
practice of attempting to disguise a weak, pitiful, decaying body of sin with
gaudy embellishments of dress, deportment and conversation. a * +
Then there is simplicity,
"In simplicity and Godly sincerity, not
with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God."
Simplicity-the word breathes of an indescribable peace and
tranquility from the countless unanswerable complexities of existence. The
patriarch Job suffered anguish of mind as he sought to plumb the fathomless
depths of God's ways and appointments, but he was taught to find peace in the
assurance that in the ultimate all things work together for good, and God is
just, and all man needs is simple faith.
Solomon too, in Ecclesiastes, ponders and weighs the inconsistencies
of life and experience and he, like job, learns he must accept it with
childlike simplicity: "Fear God and keep His commandments-this is
the whole duty of man."
Man's sole concern and obligation is to learn God's will as
thoroughly as his opportunities permit and, of course, to obey it. Nothing else
need bother us. Childlike simplicity and singleness of purpose is the keynote.
It is grown men, with idle, speculating minds, that have added all the complications.
***
The next example we can glean from the chapter we are
considering. Peter (always the first to speak), desirous of applying Christ's
lesson and anxious to catch its spirit, asks: "Lord, how oft shall my
brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?"
Poor Peter! Who but an adult would think o f counting forgivenesses? How noble he felt! Seven times! The
Rabbis, we are told, limited it to three.
But again we must turn to the nobility of infancy for an example
of Christ's answer. There is to be no reckoning of forgivenesses.
How repeatedly a small child will forgive and forget! How soon are hurts
forgotten! How easy reconciliation! What young child would think of the
cramped and calculating course of grudgingly numbering these occasions?
It takes a mature adult to properly bear a grudge.
Consider the solemnity of Christ's final words on the subject.
Speaking of the miserable fate of the unmerciful debtor in his parable, he
says, v. 35,
"So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you,
if ye FROM YOUR HEART forgive not everyone his brother their trespasses."
Then there is teachableness. A
willingness and ability to learn, a desire for knowledge, a free unashamed
recognition of ignorance, frank and open honesty of mind. There is a sad
line of demarcation between childhood and maturity, when the fund of knowledge
becomes regarded as sufficient, and all inlets are closed. At this point
progress and growth stop. Opinions harden. The faculty of fresh, unbiased reasoning
withers like an unused limb. Desire to learn ceases.
There is no longer any sensation of incompleteness of knowledge. The
possibility of error becomes unthinkable. Childhood is over. Maturity has been
reached.
***
Paul, writing to the Corinthians, refers to another feature of
childhood's superiority. "In malice, be ye children," he
exhorts them.
What is malice? Enmity of heart, ill-will, spite, a deep-seated
bitterness that delights in the misery of perversity, a rottenness of the
bones, any state of mind that magnifies unpleasant and meaningless trifles and
sows malignant seeds of discord. An ugly thing, is it not?
And do we think we are free from it? Then why do we laugh at
another's misfortune or embarrassment? Why do we see humor in things that create
discomfort? Latent malice is in every heart-"In my flesh dwelleth no
good thing."
Peter, using the same example of childhood, appeals to extreme
infancy for his illustration,
"Laying aside all malice, and all guile,
and hypocrisies and envies, and all evil speakings,
as newborn babes."
Here Peter mentions another attribute of infancy-guilelessness,
simple innocence. A broad and intimate acquaintance with facts is not
always desirable. If God has condemned a thing, it is much more pleasing to Him
if we can accept His judgment as loving children and leave
it alone without first having to know all about it.
"Let them go their way, let them see the other side-the
experience is good," the foolish world says, "Let them weather the
storm-it will teach them self-reliance." But such philosophy is heedless
of the tremendous percentage the storm sweeps relentlessly away, and it ignores
God's lesson that self-reliance is at best a broken reed.
God teaches that there is neither wisdom nor kindness in exposing tender shoots to a blast
that tests the endurance of «ill-rooted faith. Christ's prayer was that
God should keep His children from the evil that is in the world and man
is not wiser than God. When Jesus was urged to unnecessarily expose himself, he
replied
"Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God."
The parent-child figure is nowhere more strongly emphasized
than in relation to God's fundamental requirement -obedience in simple
faith.
"Be ye as obedient children."
No amount of laborious and complicated service and worship and
devotion is to be compared with simple obedience. Some men do many wonderful
works in Christ's name but do they pass the acid test of a humble childlike
desire to know and obey God's elementary requirements, regardless of their
apparent contradiction of the world's wisdom? Are their mighty works done their
way, or God's?
"If not," declares Christ, "If they do not the
will of my Father, no amount of parading their great works will get them into
my kingdom." Why not? Why shouldn't a lifetime of noble, self-sacrificing,
well-meaning service be rewarded? Because they miss the
fundamental issue of the Gospel. It is not of works but of childlike,
unquestioning faith.
To enter the Kingdom, a man must be absolutely righteous. The
Bride is to be presented "holy and without blemish, not having spot or
wrinkle or any such thing." Even 99% is not sufficient. But no man can
accomplish this for himself. No amount of effort and service can do it. If it
were possible, then man could glory.
There is only one way to become wholly righteous. God has promised to
cover sin and impute perfect righteousness on the basis of tried faith. If a
man's life and conduct are guided by implicit faith, God will count him
righteous.
Here again is illustrated Christ's declaration that we can
only enter the Kingdom as children. We must have righteousness to enter, but it
is not the manly, self-confident, self-reliant, earned righteousness of works.
It is the faithful, trustful, childlike imputed righteousness of grace.
We are brought to the last and most important childlike
characteristic we must evidence. The one upon which the parent-child relation
of God and man is primarily based trustfulness-a child's trust and a
Father's care.
Here is where the example of childhood faces its most
difficult task-to teach adult faith to rely on the
invisible, immovable Rock, and not the visible, shifting sand. To relax its
frantic and worrying efforts to build security out of perishing mammon, and in
the serene confidence of childlike faith to feel the assuring strength of the
everlasting arms.
Our relationship to God is as children, shaping their
characters under their father's
care. As such there are things to which we must give heed, and things to which
we must not. As a Father to His children, God has said to us,
"Take no thought for temporal things-I shall supply them
as they are needed. What you must do in the few brief years at your disposal is
to diligently prepare yourselves for the work I have in store for you. You have
much to do and the time is short. Be content with what I give you and remember,
too, that sometimes I shall give you more than you need to see if you use MY
GOODS wisely and faithfully FOR ME, or if you squander them upon yourselves.
Later on you must give an account of how you have used your time and
opportunities and possessions."
A true conception of our position as children will lead us to
a proper use of our time. Childhood is a limited period, a time of passing
opportunity. It is a time for learning and preparing. In it the basis of the
future is laid. It is a time of education and discipline-often of necessary and
beneficial chastisement.
If used diligently and wisely and
intelligently and obediently it will lead to an acceptable and eternal manhood.
If used foolishly or thoughtlessly or frittered in pleasure or wasted in
ambition, it will, of course, lead to another end just as eternal and
inevitable.
If we rely on ourselves, our knowledge, our ability,
we lose the strongest incentive to resist temptation when it affects our
wellbeing but if we in faith cast aside worldly security and throw ourselves
entirely upon God's care, knowing that we shall only be cared for if we are
well pleasing to Him, it will be a strong deterrent to doing anything that may
forfeit His care and guardianship.
That is, if our whole treasure and insurance and dependence
is in heaven in the shape of God's favor and care, we shall be much more
careful not to jeopardize it or let it lapse by rendering a faulty obedience.
Let us then-in humility, in naturalness, in simplicity, in
forgiveness, in freedom from malice, in purity, in guilelessness, in
trustfulness, in heedlessness of worldly cares, in dependence on our Father-be
obedient children, worthy of our exalted relationship to Him.
Discernment, we have said, is necessary to profitably extract
the lessons of childhood. This is a scriptural warning. There are qualities
inherent in childhood which we must resolutely put away. Paul said (1 Cor.
"When I became a man, I put away childish things."
It is these things, sadly enough, to which we tend to cling.
The smallnesses, the limited perception,
the narrow outlook, the desire for amusements, the petty quarrels, the fussing
over trifles, the frivolity, the foolishness, the love of pleasure, the playing
of games, the silly talking, the daydreaming, the lack of ability to face and
analyze facts, the fatal attraction of novelty and color, the immature love of
bright toys and shiny playthings, the lack of self-control, and of courage to
think and to be different-these things, upon becoming men, we must
firmly put away.
"Brethren, be not children in understanding in
understanding be men"-1
G. V. G.