Except You Become as a Little Child

"Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 18:3. If you have ever had any questions about this scripture, this is the sermon for you. What qualities do little children have that we must recapture or restore in ourselves? Outlined in this sermon are more than a dozen qualities of a child that we must give serious thought to as we strive to become children of God. The older we get the harder it is to go back to the traits of a little child.

Transcript

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Someone once said, a baby is God's opinion that the world should go on. You might say God's opinion that life should go on, and that can't be too far from the truth, frankly, because there is certainly something of special value with little children.

You notice with me Mark 10, verses 13 through 15. I did not read this earlier. Let's read it now. Mark 10, verses 13 through 15. And they brought young children to Him that He should touch them, and His disciples rebuked those that brought them. But when Jesus saw it, He was much displeased and said to them, Allow the little children to come to Me and forbid them not. Now, maybe those disciples, their minds are working pretty quick. They're young men. Their minds are sharp. And they're already asking themselves as He's saying that, I wonder why He is saying that. Because the mind works fast.

And of course, they get the answer right away. For of such is the Kingdom of God. And then that might raise other questions. Well, how's the Kingdom of God like a little child? Barely or truly, I say to you, whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God. Now, they're wanting to be in the Kingdom of God. They're familiar at least with the Kingdom of God up to a point. And they're wanting to be in it. So obviously, it's like James, John, Peter, you guys. Daniel, all of you. Whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God as a little child, He shall not enter therein. And maybe they're thinking, okay, what is it about that little child that I'm supposed to be like? Well, obviously, when you read this section of Scripture, you do realize that there is a context and connection of little children with and to the Kingdom of God. And yet, at the same time, let's read Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 13, verse 11. 1 Corinthians 13 and verse 11. Paul talks about a child, and he says, When I was a child, I spoke as a child. I understood as a child. I thought as a child, that's normal. How can you not think and operate as a child? If you're a child, you sure can't operate as an adult. You're not an adult yet. He says, But when I became a man, I put away childish things. And he talks about putting away childish things.

But you know, what Paul is talking about here with childhood are the immaturity of childhood. The immaturity of childhood. They go with childhood, and these we should put away, and yet there is something else. There is something else that goes with childhood that has nothing to do with immaturity that we as adults tend to have lost.

Matthew 18 and verse 3. I'll pick it up in verse 1. At the same time came the disciples to Jesus saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Because they were always, while they were carnal, and before they were converted, they not only had this concern about who was the greatest, but they were involved in that concern personally because they were even arguing about which one of them was going to be the greatest in the kingdom that Christ would set up.

Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Jesus called a little child to Him and set Him in the midst of them and noticed how He words this, and said, Verily, I say to you, you're asking about who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Except you be converted. Would we say or even think that anyone who doesn't become converted could be in the kingdom of God?

That you could just remain carnal in your thinking and operations and be there? We know better. Except you be converted. That's a given. That's understood very easily. We have to become converted and become as little children. So wait a minute. Hold on. You mean if you become converted, you're like a little child? Because that's what He's saying, that you be converted and become as little children.

How is conversion and little children, in one sense, one and the same? You shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Okay, let's put another Scripture with this one. Psalm 19, verse 7. And let's read it carefully. Psalm 19, verse 7. Now, the verse in Psalm 19, verse 7 starts off with the law of God.

And we know the doctrine or the law of God. Whether you're talking about the Ten Commandments, or you're talking about the Sabbath, which is in the Ten Commandments, or the Holy Days, etc. Which we all, in the whole process of repentance and becoming in Christ through baptism and all of that, we obviously accept and take on and strive to live by the law of God. And it says, it's perfect. Or that is complete. Or mature. That word perfect can often mean mature. It can mean complete.

It can mean all of that. And what does it do? Converting the soul. But you know the word here translated converting could also have been translated restoring the soul. How do you restore something that hasn't been? If you restore something, you're putting back into place something that has been. That's generally what restoring has to do. You know, stores constantly restore. When the shelves get empty in a store, they have to restock.

Restore. So, when you think about except you become converted and become as little children, and then you think of the whole process of God working on us to convert us, is restoring something, ask yourself this question. What qualities do little children have that we must recapture or restore in ourselves? What qualities do little children have that we must recapture or restore in ourselves? And if you like a title, same as the subject, except you become as a little child.

Except you become as a little child. So, as a little child, what are those qualities that we can rapidly lose? And the older we get, the more we tend to, but which when God starts the process of converting one, we have to yield to God and work with God in the process of restoring these qualities. Now, if you want to number it by points, I'll give you numbers. I'm not going to tell you how many points there are.

I don't know when we get through. But number one, the first one. A little child is very trusting. They're very trusting. They're so trusting that some might even say gullible, which is true, because you could teach them that the moon is made of green cheese. And they can't go out to the moon to verify it, but they would believe you. You think they wouldn't? We've got a whole season we're going into where little bitty ones will be taught that a fat man in a red suit can come down a chimney and reindeer that fly and the whole set of falsehoods that totally cannot be.

But the little kids will accept that as we say, Gospel truth. A little child is very trusting. We are called God's little ones. Notice with me 2 Corinthians 1.24. 2 Corinthians 1.24. Now, Paul is making a couple of things very plain here.

He says, not for that we, the ministry, have dominion over your faith. We don't. And I don't desire to have dominion over anybody's faith. But Paul says, you know, we are helpers of your joy. My greatest joy as a pastor is to rise alongside you to meet the returning Christ, which means I've been successful and you've been successful, and whatever way I can assist in helping you being there, I joy in that. Hepers of your joy. Because when we are resurrected or changed and are with Christ, there's no greater joy you're going to experience to know that you've got life eternal forever with God the Father and Jesus Christ and with each other.

Hepers of your joy. But then it goes on to also emphasize, we don't have and don't want communion over your faith, for by faith, you stand. Your faith. But what is faith? What are some other words that we're talking about when we say faith? We're talking about belief in God, His goodness, His greatness. But also, what does all that translate into? Trust. We trust God. We trust. We trust God. We trust Him with our lives. We trust Him with our future.

We trust God. By faith, you stand. The main quality that spiritually props you up is faith. Faith is the main spiritual quality that props us up is faith. This is why in Hebrews 11 and verse 6, Hebrews 11 and verse 6, it says, "...without faith..." Which again, can be synonymous with trust. "...but without faith..." Without trust.

"...it is impossible to please Him, for He that comes to God must believe that He is, that He exists, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." But if I diligently seek God, and God sees that I'm diligently seeking Him, He's going to re-avoid me for that and really believing that. And here's the thing, you know, without faith, it's impossible to please God. How can God trust someone who doesn't trust Him? Have you ever known a human being in your life that you knew did not trust you?

They just did not trust you. Whether they had reason or they didn't have reason, especially if they didn't have reason not to trust you, but they didn't trust you. Would you trust them? I don't think so. Because if someone believes they can't trust you, how are you going to be able to trust them? So how can God trust someone who doesn't trust Him? Think about it. Would God put somebody in His eternal family if He knows they don't trust Him? I wouldn't.

If I were God, I wouldn't put somebody in my eternal family if I knew they did not trust Me. So a little child is very trusting. As a little one of God, that has got to be restored. I have dealt with people who didn't trust God. And they didn't trust God a lot of times because of their human experiences, which then they transferred over to God. And they knew that one of the challenges was they had to come to a point where they could trust God, where they could really believe Him, they could really have faith, and they could really trust Him.

And yes, you might even say, I'm sending God to the point you're gullible. You're gullible. Now, it's okay to be gullible with God because God won't let you down. It's okay to be gullible. And if you look with me at Romans 8, 28, some people would say, well, this is gullibility. Romans 8, 28. This is being gullible. Paul wrote. Paul being gullible? Well, if you want to call him gullible, okay, fine. Trusting to the point of being gullible enough to believe this. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.

Think about that for a moment. We know that all things work together for good. When you take all things, some of those things are from a straight-on look are good. Some from a straight-on look are bad. Some from a straight-on look are ugly. All things. It's a whole mix. They work together. You know, you can mess up on something. And you can come to realize you've messed up. And you can change and you can repent of it. And you can be sorry you did it.

And it's not that God is glad you did it. It's probably sad that you did it. But He can still turn it around and cause mileage to come out of it that can work in your favor as a lesson, as a learning, or whatever.

But do we really believe that God has the power to make everything come out as far as takeaways and all? It's not that He's making everything happen that happens, but it's just that He can work things out in a way that we still can get some redemption from it, some redeeming qualities, some redeeming learning. Do we really believe that God is so great He can make things work out? And certainly, in the final analysis at the very end, He can make everything work out to His glory and honor, and we can be there with Him.

I think so. See, a little child knows that you have his or her best at heart. When we read Romans 8.28, does this speak to us that God has our best at heart? If you have the kind of trust and the kind of faith that a little child does, and that's how you operate as a little one of God, that's what you have to ask. Number two, a little child is malleable, teachable. Of course, that's what comes out of humility. If I go back to Matthew 18 and verse 4 this time, Matthew 18 and verse 4, it says, Whosoever therefore...

Now again, remember, he's talking to the disciples, grown men, who were vying for the highest positions in His Kingdom, and they're very concerned about who's the greatest. And he's answering. And he says, Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child. The same is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.

A little child is humble. A little child is malleable. They're teachable. They're very impressionable. They're easy to be mowed. That's when the clay is the most moist. In a lifetime of 70, 80, 90, or 100 years, there's never a time when the clay is more moist and that the least pressure on it will imprint the clay as when you're a little child. Very impressionable. Easy to be molded. Easy to be shaped. Genesis 1.26 Do we stop to think about how Adam and Eve were created with the framework of a little child?

They were actually grown adults who came into existence, not as babies, but came into existence as adults. We know that. But they were brought into existence in the framework of a little child, in the spiritual framework of a little child. And God did it that way on purpose, obviously. Because notice, in verse 26, His purpose for having human beings is stated. God said, let us, that us, is the Father and the Son. The one who became God the Father and the one who became Jesus Christ, the Word.

Let us make man, mankind. It goes on to say, He makes them in the counterparts of male and female. In verse 27, He says, let us make mankind, human beings, in our image, after our likeness. If the purpose and potential is to work with human beings in a way that they begin to be like Christ, like the Father, then they have to be made in a way that they can be molded and shaped and formed and fashioned and grow and develop. And Adam and Eve were in such a state when they were first created.

Of course, the hardening began to set in immediately in Genesis 3 when they listened to Satan and began to be infused with a different spirit or attitude. Well, if a human being is to be made in the image of God, and of course, we've often talked about Adam and Eve and the fact that they did no differently than any one of us would have done.

And Adam had 930 years to see what the results of Satan's ways were like. We don't know what all happened in every detail to Adam and Eve. We just know he died at 930, and in all likelihood, it's always been my belief, just knowing what I do know, that he and Eve will come up in the last great day.

And they'll be ashamed of what they see around them, their descendants, but they'll have opportunity. But guess what? They will have to be restored back to the framework of mind and attitude that they had when they were first created for God to be formed in them. What does God do with us? He has to restore us. Yes, a little child is very malleable. They're very teachable. They're very impressionable.

So must we become again. We have to be restored back to that condition. And then, that purpose of being formed in God's image after His likeness can take place. When we're converted, we're actually being restored back to a certain framework in which conversion can take place. Number 3, and I'm going to be turning over to 1 Peter 2.21, 1 Peter 2 and verse 21. Number 3, children learn by example.

It has often been said that little children are the world's biggest copycats. I remember this ad I saw many years ago, 20 years ago probably. This father was out walking in the woods with his little son, and he sat down at the base of a tree. And the father pulled out a pack of cigarettes and shook one out, sat there, lit it up. The little boy was looking up at him. The little boy looked over, found a twig, took the twig and put it in his mouth and acted like he was lighting it. Kids are the world's greatest copycats. God wants us to be copycats.

1 Peter 2 and verse 21. For even hereunto were you called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps. This is why I say, read the Gospels. Read about Christ. Look at His words. Look at His attitudes. Look at how He functions. Look at Scripture, which is all from God because it speaks of living by every word of God. The whole Bible is by God's inspiration.

And the more you study it and the more you meditate on it and strive to live by it, the clearer it comes in your mind, what He is like, and the more you really do accurately know how to truly follow Christ. We had this thing a number of years ago that got it going.

What would Jesus do? I made an acronym of it. What would Jesus do? Well, it's very important to know what Jesus would do. You follow His example, but you've got to really know what it is to know how to follow. Children have an ingrained ability to copy their parents, their aunts and uncles, their grandparents, other people. An innate ability, just natural to them. That's the way it should be with us too. One of the things that would be restored too.

Therefore, to a little child, his parents are the most important people in the world. Now when a baby is born, it has no concept of God. And a little bitty child still has no concept of God. But those who in one sense represent God or stand in for God or in God's place are the parents.

That's why you have the fifth commandment about honoring the parents. Because that's the first key authority in little child's life. And that's why it is so important to exercise that fifth commandment properly. To a little child, his parents are the most important people in the world.

And that commandment, the fifth commandment, is designed to be exercised properly, which helps transfer or get in that pattern that will then be utilized by God for God's positioning in our life. So when you say to little child, his parents are the most important people in the world, and the little child stands in all of his parents. Who is my supreme parent now? And for most of us in this room, our supreme parent, is God the Father. And do we stand in all of him? Is he the most important being, the Father and the Son, in our lives?

Well, in that light, look at Matthew 22 in verse 37. Because isn't that what this is saying? That should be the way it is with us. In verse 37 in Matthew 22, Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. If it is with all your soul, your mind, your being, what you are, isn't that like standing in all?

Here it is. Everything else comes second. God comes first. You are living the Lord with your whole being. That positioning. And that is something that we have to be restored, as far as that framework, back into. Number five. And it follows suit with the parents being the most important people in the world to that little child. It follows suit .5, a little child wants to please. A little child wants to please. Why? Well, one of the main reasons is they are eager.

They are eager for their parents' approval. And you think about it. Have you ever noticed how that just one bad look, a frowning look from a parent can really shut down a little child? I've seen a parent sometimes, and I'm not saying it wasn't called for. That's not my point. But I'm talking about the influence, the impact.

I've seen a parent been able to give a hard or glaring or corrective look to a little child, and the little child just sits there, and the face starts screwing up, and they start crying. The power and the impact of that is what I'm talking about, because to a little child, they want to please their parents. They want their parents' approval.

And you think about it, to them, that of itself is quite a reward. It's quite an incentive to them. As we say, such praise is music to their ears. Well, I'm still here at Matthew 22, but I'm going to turn over a couple of pages to Matthew 25 and verse 21. Matthew 25 and verse 21, A little child wants to please, eager for the parent's approval. That of itself is reward and incentive, music to their ears. Okay. Is this music to your ears?

Is this music to my ears? You betcha! His Lord said to him, and this is one of the rewards we're looking forward to, I'm looking forward to my ears hearing, well done, you good and faithful servant.

God's praise. God's approval. Which means so much. I hear those words someday. I don't always feel like such a good servant. I don't always feel like such a faithful servant. I don't always feel like, oh, I'm flying by with flying colors. I'm just doing so great and so good. But I know I'm trying. And I know I am achieving.

And I know I am accomplishing. And I know that I'm staying in the battle. And I know that I do want to please God. I know I do want His approval. And to me, someday to hear, well done, you good and faithful servant. That in and of itself is a tremendous reward. Number six. A little child wants to spend time with his parents. A little child is not wanting the parents to stay away, not wanting to himself or herself just to be able to go off alone and be left alone and no involvement with the parents or anything. If a child is like that, there's something wrong.

There's something wrong. A little child, Daddy, what are you doing? Mommy, what are you doing? They want to be there with you. They want to spend time.

They desire and they enjoy the attention of the parents. Daddy, can you do this? Mommy, can you do this? What are we doing now, Mommy? What are we doing now, Daddy? A little child wants to spend time with his parents. He desires and enjoys their attention. Now think about Genesis 6-9.

And see, when you read something like here in Genesis 6 and verse 9, don't make the mistake of saying, well, you know, that was the exception. That is the exception with those that God is working with. That's the exception with those who are converted. That's the exception. That's not part of the format or the MO with those who are being converted of God. When it says here in Genesis 6-9, these are the generations of Noah. Noah was a just man. He's perfect or upright. He should be in his generations. And this part here, this is what I'm focusing on. Noah walked with God. How do you walk with God?

Well, yeah, logically, everybody thinks of, well, you pray. Yeah, that's part of it. You have Bible study. Yeah, that's part of it. You could be mowing the grass and be walking with God. And finally, how much brain power does it take to push a mower? Not very much at all. I love to mow the grass. I just do. It's pretty good therapy for me. But I can be out there mowing the grass and be thinking of things that have to do with God and His ways and plans and thinking about the future of planet earth and all of that.

And your mind is stayed on God, and you are learning how to involve the things of God in the way you do things and the way you go about things, and it's becoming more and more your lifestyle. You are walking with God. And the child of God is going to want to do that more and more. And I think with a child having time with parents through that built-in desire that God made a part of the makeup, that built-in desire for time and attention, guess what happens?

The parents rub off on this little copycat. Even more so. Well, when we yield to God, and God works with us with His Spirit, and then later, after baptism, and laying on hands with His Spirit in us, and we walk with God, and walk with God more and more, God rubs off on us. And we do become more like Him. In His image, after His likeness, He rubs off on us. Number seven, a little child feels safe and secure with mom and dad.

A little child feels safe and secure with mom and dad. As I like to put it, the security of dad's arms. You know, when my boys were little, it was like, Dad, boy, how strong you are, what big muscles you have. I didn't try to tell them any different. I knew they would find out in time. But it's just the view. It's the way it is. The security of dad's arms and the warmth and the comfort of moms.

It's a wonderful combination. The security of dad's arms and the warmth and comfort of moms. Is there any one of us adults in here? Older folks in here? Whatever. Has any one of us lived so long already? Including myself. That we can't remember when it was a kneecap or the belt-buckle world. And we couldn't see over the counter.

I'm talking about when we were a little child. And we were looking eyeball to belt-buckle with folks. Eyeball to kneecap. Eyeball to the countertop. Couldn't see over it. I remember those days. And you know what? I don't want to forget those days. I want to keep those days as part of my memory banks. Because there's things I go back and search and realize and learn. But also, I want to retain that for current identity with others.

And with children and little children. I mean, a world where Israel said, the ten spies said, we can't go in and take the land. There's giants there. That was one of the reasons for not wanting to go in. Do you realize that we've all walked in the land of giants? When we were a little child, everybody was a giant around us. Remember that? If you can. And there can be some scary situations. I remember one time when I was with my father. I was young. I won't go into the details. But he had to go to somebody about an issue.

When he faced the man, the man's hand went in his pocket for his pocket knife. Dad grew up at a rough time and a rough place. And he knew, everybody carried a knife. And Dad knew what the guy was going for. And when the man's hand went in his pocket for his pocket knife, Dad had his 20-ounce claw hammer on the side of his overalls. And all Dad did was he just rested his hand on that hammer. And I'm watching all of this. And when he rested his hand, that other guy's hand came out of his pocket. You know, the things... A world where Dad represented security. His presence represented security. And again, to go back to something Jonathan said to me when he was little. He said, Dad, I thought you were as big as everybody. Of course, he was quite young when he thought that. And again, he grew up to realize I wasn't as big as everybody. And now, with 44 pounds gone, I can't afford to get in any trouble because I'm too thin to fight and I'm too slow to run. So, I have to behave myself all the way around. Anyway, but notice, notice Hebrews 13. A little child feels safe and secure with Mom and Dad.

Hebrews 13, verses 5 and 6. My Father, God, and my elder brother at His right hand, Jesus the Christ. Let your conduct be without covetousness. Be content with such things as you have, for He has said, My Father has said, and it is shared with my elder brother also toward Me, I will never leave you nor forsake you. And a true Father doesn't leave you or forsake you, even physically. And our supreme Father and elder brother will never leave us nor forsake us. Sink your teeth into that. Trust in them. Verse 6, say, latch onto that because so that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper. I will not fear what man shall do to me. So important. And you are using for spiritual purpose the framework that is supposed to be there in a little child's life that you have to kind of be restored back to at a later time. Point 8, a little child always runs to mom and dad when hurt. You ever notice that? They don't run to the neighbor. They don't run to the back 40 and hide out. They don't run across the street to somebody else's house knocking on a door.

A little child always runs to mom and dad when hurt. Notice 1 Peter 5, 7.

Always runs to mom and dad when hurt. 1 Peter 5, 7. Casting all your care. It may be little care, heavy care, a lot of care, overwhelming care. It doesn't differentiate, but it is an inclusive statement. Casting all your care. No matter how small you may think it is or how big it is, you can cast it upon God. Why? Because He cares for you. Why does a little kid run to mom and dad when he's hurt? Because he's hurt, and he knows that they love him and they're going to help him. He knows they care about him, and that's why he runs to them for help, because he knows they love him.

We run to God because we know He does care for us. And part of the lesson in this too is our real comfort must come from God. There are times and situations where no matter what comfort that we can receive from another human being, yes, there are times, and yes, there's comfort we can receive from other human beings, but there's also a measure, a level, and a depth, and a type of comfort that we have to get from God. And what happens? Okay.

It was part of my experience as a parent with my kids growing up. They got hurt.

I was getting ready to... It was announcements time in liberal Kansas, and Angela called. That's four cell phones and all, but there was a phone at the hall in liberal Kansas, and Angela called because she was in Amarillo, and I was up there in liberal for a 930 service, and she said, John has fallen, and I think he's broken his arm. Sabbath morning, and I said, I told her to get in touch with the elder there, get him anointed, and take him in having a... and he did. He'd broken his arm. And it was during the announcements period, and then I had to step into the sermon. I wasn't there for that. I was off. But there were other times when they got hurt when you as a parent hear your child's scream. Now, babies have different cries. Any parent knows that. I'm hungry. I'm wet. I want attention. But you can pretty well figure out what the need is by the crying. But one thing about when a kid is hurt, you know they're hurt. When they cry and they scream, and you know what you're doing, you don't have to say, feet move! You are moving. They're running toward you, and you're running toward them, because you're doing the best you can to get there. Because your kid is hurt, and to take care of the need, and do what you can. You think God doesn't run to us when we cry out in pain? Yeah. Casting all your care upon Him for He cares for you. We run to God. Number nine, little children are tender. They are tender. They're resilient. They spring back from hurt or anger very quickly. They don't hold grudges. You see them kind of maybe get angry one minute, and then the very next they're playing. They almost seem to have no capacity for holding a grudge. You notice that with little child? It's like they don't have a capacity for holding a grudge. Ephesians 4, 26. Ephesians 4, and verse 26. See, as time goes on, we develop a capacity. We lose that lack of capacity for holding a grudge, and we very easily develop capacity for it. And to the one who's being restored back to a spiritual framework in which God can do His work and make us be like Himself in Christ, one of the admonitions is here in Ephesians 4, 26, be you angry, which means there are times when you can be angry for right reason, and if you handle it properly, there's no sin. It says in sin not, be you angry in sin not. There is proper anger, properly done, properly processed. But there's a lot of sin that usually happens in anger. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. In other words, don't let it become institutionalized in you. Don't let it set. And what happens if anger is not properly processed or if it's wrong anger to begin with, that it has a chance to really sink down into you? It causes grudges. It causes hard feelings. Read on down to verse 32, and be you kind one to another, tender hearted. Like a little child, little children are tender hearted. What do they do? Like I said, they might get upset, angry, upset in the moment, but the very next moment, it's all watered down the river, and they're playing again, forgiving one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven us. Number 10. Little children are open. They're out front. They're up front. They're honest. Think about it. They're not devious. They're not double dealing. They're not hypocritical. They're open. They're out front. They're up front. They're honest.

They're not malicious. They're not hypocritical. They're not double dealing. 1 Corinthians 14, 20. 1 Corinthians 14, in verse 20, he says, brethren, be not children in understanding. Now, obviously, a two-year-old doesn't understand what a 12-year-old does, because a tribulos had a whole decade, 10 years, to grow in understanding and knowledge. And then a 22-year-old had another 10 years. So, obviously, we're supposed to increase in understanding. Yes. Don't be children in understanding. In other words, grow and develop and increase in understanding. But, how be it or but, in malice, be children. Because little children don't carry malice. They don't have malice. But in understanding, be men. Be perfect. Be complete. He's shooting for that. Yes. Psalm 32, verse 2. Blessed is the man, Psalm 32, 2, blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputes not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. Nathaniel, in fact, I read this scripture and I think of John 1.47, the calling of Nathaniel, when Nathaniel was brought to Christ there in John 1.47. Now, people think about how closely Christ worked with James and John and Peter. More so than He did the others as far as the closeness of the working relationship. Yet, He worked closely with all the others as well that He chose. But He did single out James and John and Peter more often. But it says in John 1.47, Jesus saw Nathaniel coming to Him and said of Him, Look, behold, look, an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile. No double dealing, no deviousness, no hypocrisy. He had not lost that which He had as a little child. He still had that particular part. But that was one of the things that made Nathaniel workable. Number 11. Little children are very optimistic and positive. They're very optimistic and positive. And I know that we told the joke many a time. I realize it's an old joke about the little kid on top of that pile of horse dung who's digging in the pile and somebody says, What in the world are you doing? And he said, With all of this dung here, there's got to be a horse in here somewhere. And we speak of the naivete and the innocence of childhood. And we both laugh at it and yet at the same time yearn for it. But then we turn around and we scoff and accuse an adult of being a Pollyanna. If they're very optimistic with unbridled optimism. Because it's not chic. It's just it's not fashionable. And yet, when we look at, for instance, Philippians 4 and verse 8. Philippians 4 and verse 8. Finally, brethren, what's everything's are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, good report. If there be any virtue, if there be any praise.

That's what you really should focus on and work it focusing on. Think on these things that I guess is considered a little bit Pollyannaish.

Unbridled optimism.

And I guess this whole book of Philippians in one sense, much of it, would be Pollyannaish.

Pollyanna, for the younger ones, may not know, but we older ones do. You know, the movies about Pollyanna and she always felt good and everything. And was so optimistic about things. And I guess this is optimism on Paul's part in chapter 1, verse 6. Being confident of this very thing, that He which has begun a good work in you will perform it to the day of Jesus Christ.

I talked with someone in recent times who at one point in her life thought that God had maybe cast her away.

And I said, no, God can't cast you away because of His nature, His love, His character. He can't. And I said, you could leave God, you could leave Him, but He can't and He won't leave you.

And this is an optimistic and a positive statement here that Paul is making. And then in verse 19 of the same chapter, he says, for I know that this shall result in my salvation through your prayer, intercessory prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. And then the book starts to close over here in chapter 4, in verse 19, where it says, but my God shall supply all your need according to His riches and glory by Christ Jesus. Those are positive statements. And I guess maybe the most positive of all in one sense is chapter 4 in verse 13.

I can.

That's positive. That's optimistic. I can do all things. All that's necessary that needs to be done.

That needs to be done.

That's necessary for my salvation.

Attaining to it. I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. Wow.

Number 12.

We're getting to the end.

The little child is very excitable and enthusiastic.

And we would use a word that kind of captures excitable and enthusiastic, a word like zealous.

We talk about the wide-eyed wonder of a child.

You know, the best time to tell a child that you're going to Disney World the next day is right when you're putting them to bed, right?

Yes, that's right. No.

You want to tell them in the morning. You do not want to tell them when you're putting them to bed because putting them to bed is not going to happen very well.

So excited.

Wide awake.

Galatians, and we're right here close by, Galatians 4, 18.

Galatians 4, verse 18.

But it is good to be zealously affected.

To be affected by zeal.

To be zealously affected always in a good thing. To be able to be excited about it.

To be able to be enthusiastic about it.

That's a great thing.

And of course, when we talk about enthusiasm, we know that the word enthused actually means God-breathed or God-inspired.

Now, a little child gets on a natural high. He's so excited and anticipating. And of course, when we talk about excited and anticipating, what in the world was Paul doing when he said in Romans 8, 18, I reckon the sufferings of this world are not worth being compared to the glory that's going to be revealed in us.

He was excited. He was zealous.

A couple more.

Number 13.

A little child has a very strong imagination.

Very strong.

A little child has a very strong imagination.

They have the ability to picture or envision in the mind's eye. It's a very strong mind's eye. It's a very strong imagination.

And we could even say visionary in a sense.

Romans 4, verse 17, says God speaks of those things that are not as though they were.

In other words, God speaks of those things that are not yet, but that are going to be as though they were, because it lives in his mind. It lives in his vision and his imagination. It's visionary.

And we must have that ability.

Like the little child.

And like God, we must have that ability.

Proverbs 29, 18 tells us we must. In the King James, I love the way it puts it in the King James in Proverbs 29, verse 18. It says, Where there is no vision, the people perish.

One of the reasons I don't perish is because I have the vision of God's future world, the world tomorrow.

The Millennium.

The last great day.

I have the vision in my mind of what I'm being offered in the glory that shall come.

And that vision allows us to take the glimpses that are given and fill in the gaps with the rest of the glorious picture.

Final point, 14.

2 x 7. Didn't try to make it work out that way. It's just the way it worked out.

14. Little children are so reciprocating.

Reciprocity.

The law of reciprocity, reciprocating. Or, if you want to use the word, responsive. Little children are so reciprocating, so responsive.

Loving and lovable.

Loving and lovable.

Reciprocating. Responsive. It's so important a statement in this regard. 1 John 4, 19.

1 John 4.

And verse 19.

Very simple.

We love Him because He first loved us.

The little one loves the parents because they first loved Him or her.

We love God because He first loved us.

Little children are reciprocating. They're responsive. And that is what we also must learn to be.

But these qualities, these traits, these values of little children, we see them being lost by age 6, by age 5, by age 4, sometimes by age 3, and yes, sometimes even by age 2.

Satan and society are working to take them out of the makeup.

And as we grow older, we harden. And generally, as a human being, just left alone by God, just going the natural way of things, the older we get, with all the experiences around us, the harder it is to go back to those traits of little child.

Satan and society are working hard to take us out of them and take them out of us.

Like a soldier on a battlefield, our emotions callous.

We lose sensitivity and tenderness. And what happens with people? We grow skeptical.

We grow cynical. We get negative. We get apathetic. We get indifferent. And you think about it. Sin and hurt and society makes us withdrawn.

Human weaknesses burn us and sometimes burn us out.

Malice, hypocrisy, revenge, hardness. And we fast lose the qualities and values of little child.

And on the battlefields of life, they dry out very quickly.

Yet, these are the very things that give us the framework, the spiritual framework in which God's growth in us can take place. And what we must recapture, just again, as Christ said to His disciples there in Matthew 18.3, except you be converted and become like a little child.

There's no place in the kingdom for us. And we look to God.

We have to recapture them. And we look to God. We look to God who can restore. Psalm 19, verse 7, because when He calls us and He converts us, one of the things He's got to work on with us is to try to get us back into that kind of framework in which the growth of becoming like Him can take place.

God waters us with His Word, His Spirit, His presence. He moistens, He revives, He restores. And as we become more and more like a little child by recapturing these true values, we more and more are ensured a glorious place and future in His eternal family and kingdom.

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Rick Beam was born and grew up in northeast Mississippi. He graduated from Ambassador College Big Sandy, Texas, in 1972, and was ordained into the ministry in 1975. From 1978 until his death in 2024, he pastored congregations in the south, west and midwest. His final pastorate was for the United Church of God congregations in Rome, (Georgia), Gadsden (Alabama) and Chattanooga (Tennessee).