Little Children

. . Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3)

God is our Heavenly Father and we are His children. With many spiritual truths we find a natural counterpart in our lives and such is the case with our fundamental relationship to our Creator and Sustainer. Much can be learned from the relationship between a parent and child when we compare this natural state with the wonderful parent-child bond that exists between ourselves and our Heavenly Father.

One of the first things a young child realizes is that there are, in his life, a father and mother who provide for his every need: his food, his warm surroundings, the love he receives, and the quick response to his cries of distress. He feels the security that naturally develops from this environment and learns to trust these people who love him so dearly. From this trust and love, he learns to love his parents in return. Similarly, we love God because He first loved us. (I John 4:19)

Chastisement by God is Fair And Done in Love . . .

When discipline is naturally required, and the parents are totally fair in their chastisement, (as our Heavenly Father always is with us) then obedience will be learned as well as respect. If we discipline our children in the heat of anger, no one really benefits, but when it is done with love and firmness, it can more easily achieve the results for which it is being administered. Perhaps when we realize that our chastisement by God is fair and done in love, with our spiritual welfare in mind, we may be more yielding under God’s mighty hand.

Parents can sense their children love, but when a child actually says “I love you,” there is great joy in a mother and father’s heart. We already know of our children’s’ appreciation for certain things but when they express it in words, it means so much more. Do we always thank God for His tender care and not only love Him with all our heart, soul, and mind, but express our love to Him in prayer?

Young children want to be with their parents constantly whether it is during a thunderstorm, while reading a bedtime story, or accompanying them on an outing to the store, and so it should be. And so should our desire be toward being with our Heavenly Father through His Word, in prayer, in our thoughts, and in every event of our lives.

Little children mimic the adult activities and characteristics of parents. They enjoy dusting and other routine household chores. They are also influenced by the temperaments of mothers and fathers. Kind and gentle or loud and stubborn parents each have their effect. As children, trying to be like our Heavenly Father, we work at making His Characteristics our own.

Our Petty Arguments must cause our Father much Sadness . . .

As parents, we are appalled when sibling rivalry is exhibited by our children. As Brothers and Sisters in Christ, our petty arguments and personality problems must similarly cause our Father in heaven much sadness.

Children of God are not reared by parents who perhaps spoil their children or fail to provide the love and corresponding discipline required to develop a child into a healthy, secure, and fruitful individual. We are nurtured by a Father who knows what we are and what we need to develop characters worthy of a place to His Kingdom, and He knows exactly how to provide all the necessary care to make it possible.

We must trust God and love Him, obey God and yield to His discipline, want to be like Him and with Him al­ways. And so we shall be with Him always if we “become as little children.”

“. . we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure: but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: Nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.” Hebrews 12:9 to 11