What Glenn Writes

I was involved in our children’s church for over five years. This age bracket started at 4 years old and ran up to sixth grade. I think the reasons I enjoyed this ministry so much was due to our likeness in maturity levels and a great fondness for really childish jokes. We had fun, we learned many lessons, and we made great friends. To this day, there are kids in our church who still call me “Coach Glenn”.

I’m ok with that… actually, I am more than ok with that; I like the reminder of the young friendships I made through the ministry.

There were many lessons where I think I learned more than the kids learned and maybe even had more fun. I do know one of the biggest lessons I learned from this ministry is the object lesson of what is known as “childlike faith”.

This is one of those concepts that is hard to grasp at first reading in Scripture. Some verses call us to be mature believers, and then we have this childlike faith issue being presented in Matthew 18:3-5.

And he said: “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.”

So we are called to be mature, yet also childlike… I learned from the children’s church the application of the childlike faith is in how we relate to Jesus Christ… how we relate to God. We are called to be mature in our responsibilities, in making wise decisions, and avoiding sin. We are called to be childlike in our approach to God.

When I talked with the kids and watched them worship, there was no restraint in their zeal for God. Their worship was uninhibited… they didn’t care what others thought of them or how they looked when they danced before the Lord. Their devotion was uncomplicated and unrestrained. They were ok with depending on God and not themselves… they were so used to depending on Mom and Dad, that depending on God was an easy transition. They could easily go to God in prayer and talk plainly, without getting all caught up on how their prayer sounded or if they used the right words… they just let it go and enjoyed their relationship with God.

This sort of approach is very humbling for an adult. We gave up those childish ways many years ago. We started to realize others form an opinion about us by the way we behave and for some stupid reason, we started to be concerned about their opinion. We started to become self-dependant, self-resilient, self-assured, self-confident, and… as a result, selfish.

I like the root meaning of the Greek word used for “change” in the part, “unless you change and become like little children”. The Greek word is strepho, which means a complete twist, turn completely around, or a sharp turn.

Do you see the application here? As adults, we are called to make a complete twist in our approach to God… turn completely around from our self-dependant, self-reliant, self-assured, self-confident, and selfish traits, and become like little children in our approach to Him… that is, get rid of all restraints or anything that inhibits our devotion or worship… let it all go and just enjoy our relationship with God.

Are you enjoying your relationship with Jesus Christ? Are you having difficulty in finding the right balance of being mature, yet also childlike? Contact me and I will pray with you for the Lord to guide you in this understanding… to help you find a way to just let it all go and enjoy God.

Glenn Sasscer

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