Like Little Children

(Originally written for Douglas County Publishing: Pastor's Meditation June 2 issue)

As I watched the boys and girls who came to Vacation Bible School in Corsica last week, I was amazed by their unchanging energy.  Each morning began and ended with worship through song, and in between they learned about the nature of God and had fun through Bible lessons, crafts, and recreation.  Singing the same songs every day enabled the kids to know them better. It was not just their singing that struck me, but all of the moving and jumping and motions they did with the songs.

For most of us that have grown up in churches or who have gone to Sunday School and VBS before, we can probably remember being in their place at one time as well.  Adult leaders taught us the motions to a song.  They gave us parts to sit down or stand up.  As children, there was a certain joy in having the opportunity to praise God by belting the songs out with our voices as well as glorifying him with the bodies he created. 

In Jesus’ earthly ministry a time came when the disciples asked him, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”  Rather than shouting out the name of some ancient hero of faith or one of them, Jesus had a child come and stand with them.  He told them, “I tell you the truth, 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.  And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me” (Matthew 18:1-5).

At some point, many of us stop the excited singing and the energetic motions and movements that are familiar to our children.  Some of that has to do with the tunes and the instruments involved.  I don’t expect us to be jumping up and down when there is a somber organ tune calling for reverence before God.  But we have a lot of joy-filled songs in our hymnals and services, so what happens?

I think a big part of this is our becoming self-conscious.  In the Garden of Eden, after they had sinned, Adam and Eve felt shame when they realized one another could see them naked.  Usually around the teenage years, we begin to be aware that other people see us, and we become worried about their opinion of us.  If they see us singing excitedly and doing the same motions as a 5 year old, for some reason we feel like they would judge us.  That focus that we should have on God and praising him with voice, body, and all of our worship slowly gets replaced by what others will think of us.  If we fall into that mindset, then we lose our child-likeness, we lose that energetic, passionate worship.

That is at least part of what Jesus was telling his disciples about.  “Quit worrying who’s greatest!  In the kingdom of heaven, it’s not about rankings or social classes, royalty or acting the most mature.  Focus on simply living to enter the kingdom.”  How we do that is the pairing of faith with becoming like little children again.  Maybe that doesn’t mean doing all sorts of motions and dancing when you go to your church’s worship service on Sundays or Wednesdays.  It does mean that the passion, the energy, and the focus on God that I’ve seen in our children are things that all parents and adults need to have as followers of Christ.  As Jesus told his disciples, it may mean we have to change.