Child Like Faith

How is it that in the 20 years that I have known Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior that no one has ever explained to me what child-like faith practically looks like? Perhaps because we just don't know exactly? I've always thought about the excitement little kids have and their trust in those around them as being child-like faith, but beyond that, I didn't see many other connections. Perhaps this was just something I missed, but not today.

This morning at Redeemer I finally heard the message of what it looks like to have child-like faith (Jimmy Dodd preached on Mark 9:38-50 and 10:13-16) and I was immensely blessed by it. If you would like to listen to this sermon you can do so by going to reachkansascity.org.

In this portion of Mark, Jesus is teaching the disciples that to understand the Gospel you must have child-like faith and this is what that looks like:

-Genuine love (little kids don't think about why they're going to love someone and not love someone else, they are going to love who loves them, regardless of how talented they are, how much money they have or what they look like)

-Humble spirits (kids find great fulfillment in being able to help and serve those they love)

-Security (this was awesome.... God told Jesus He was proud of Him long before his public ministry began, long before the resurrection, God was proud, and Jesus knew it. When parents love their children this same way, the children are secure in who they are... thanks Mom, you were/are awesome at this... but even more than our earthly parents, do we find great security in who we are through the person of Jesus or do we need others approvals to be secure? If that's the case, and we seek our personhood through the approval of others, won't we always be threatened by other people and never feel good enough? So thankful, though undeserving of the security Jesus can give us when we have our identity in Him).

-Dependency (little babies go from being extremely dependent when they first arrive to independent when they turn 18 and are ready to leave the house... spiritually it's the other direction, we are independent people who need to know and grow in complete dependence on Jesus)

-Children acknowledge their needs (if they're hungry, sleepy, happy, angry, etc you're going to hear about it.... as adults, do we recognize our needs? Do we recognize our need for a Savior daily?)

Such a blessing for me today as I seek to live out child-like faith each day.