Being childlike........................

As I watched from the living room, four friends lay on the trampoline, giggling, legs kicking with no real aim.  What they were giggling about I don't know and it didn't really matter..............  They were simply enjoy a catch up and each others company.  Not a cross word was exchanged all day (at least not to my knowledge) and if there were any, they must have been quickly ironed out.  Together they explored the garden and made perfume which they were about to sell from the drive-way but I explained that the perfume would have to be tested first and that they might need a permit to sell, but what enterprising spirit!  The fun continued over lunch which was given a definite stamp of approval and I was thanked and greeted with empty plates. 

Childhood is a wonderful thing, so many special memories are made which will be revisited and over again, memories that will last a  lifetime.  Watching their interactions with each other it was clear that each person was accepting of the other, their friendship came with no pre-requisite nor demands.  Each person was allowed to be himself.  Now I know adulthood cannot be simplified in this way, or can it be?  Scripture tells us to be childlike in our ways but sometimes as adults we can confuse this with being childish.

I stumbled across a sermon on this and it summed up what I observed today in four precious children.  It is long, but well worth a read and it certainly blessed me today (day 107) and I am thankful.

Now, as much as we are called to be mature, we are also encouraged by God to become children. There's an apparent contradiction here. What does it mean then to be a child-like Christian rather than a childish one?

Well let's think of some of the positive life-affirming characteristics of children. Characteristics I am convinced we are called to emulate as God's children.

I suggest 6:

1. Joy and Wonder

Children have a natural sense of joy and wonder. A baby looks around at the world for the first time and sees smiling faces and amazing objects that he/she can play with. Everything is wonderful and new. Children, especially young children, find the world and everything in it fascinating. Left to their own devices, they explore the world around them. They get excited about life. Whether it's a trip to the seaside, a walk in the park with mum and dad, a trip to a theme park, or a new computer game, children love life and find wonder and joy in it.

Rather than being full of an innocent kind of joy and a sense of wonder, many adults are full of negativity and cynicism. Sadly, this is true of many adults . Having been let down by life, we can all too easily stay in a position of negativity and despair. Even God seems distant and aloof. It is at times like this that we especially need to grasp again the joy and wonder of a child of God. To see the world around us with fresh and vibrant eyes, to look at the big picture of our lives, and to see the good in any situation, remembering that bad times never last.

2. Receptive and open

Children are naturally receptive and open. They are teachable- they have a natural desire to learn and to discover. They respond to gifts with gratitude, usually that is anyway! If you offer a teenager twenty quid they'll take it! They won't say: 'Oh granny, I really couldn't!' They are open to receive, to be taught, and to express gratitude.

Rather than being receptive and open, many adults, indeed many adult Christians, are not open and receptive. They shun new concepts that a preacher may try to introduce to them, concepts that could change and empower their lives for the better. They shun other peoples' gifts of time, energy and money when they are in need, pretending instead to be entirely self-reliant. They even turn down God's gifts. God offers His people tremendous opportunities which some people shun. God offers gifts and blessings beyond measure, which can get left out or discarded completely. What is God offering you today? What gifts is He presenting you with? A wonderful new relationship? Financial security? Opportunity to use your gifts in God's service? An opportunity to receive counselling that will help and empower you? A new car? Your dream house? Often when God presents us with wonderful and abundant provision and gifts we become embarrassed. I'm not worthy of such things, we tell ourselves. Well there's a huge difference between being greedy and self-serving and being willing to receive whatever God wants in his grace to bless us with, so that we can bless others in turn with the gifts He has given us. I believe that God longs to really spoil us. Like a grandparent who buys you that expensive pressie that your parents said you weren't allowed. Be like a child and open yourself up to all the heavenly gifts that God longs to shower open you.

3. Emotionally Honest

Children can embarrass parents sometimes. They show exactly how they feel in a given situation. If they are upset, they cry. If they are angry, they express it. If they are excited, it shows on their faces. If they are frightened, they tell you. They express their feelings automatically and completely unselfconsciously.

When we get older it's sometimes like our emotions freeze up. We find it really difficult expressing ourselves. We find it difficult to cry and open up. This is especially true perhaps of men, especially those from Yorkshire like myself! Sadly, many men still consider expressing emotion as a sign of weakness. However, the appropriate expression of our emotions is essential to spiritual and emotional health and growth.

Ask yourself, how well do you express yourself in Church? Do you sing and praise God with all you have, or do you hold back feeling a little embarrassed and uncomfortable? After all, those people who get a bit over-excited in Church and raise their hands in worship are being a bit over-the-top and emotional aren't they? Well actually, God wants us all to be a bit over the top and emotional in worship! If you find that you want to raise your hands in Church but you never have before, be true to how you feel and raise them. We are called to love and serve God with all of ourselves, including our emotions and our bodies. And we are called like children, to express our emotions and communicate through them to others.

4. A simple trust

Children trust others. They have to trust as they are not yet independent people. They don't feel the need to analyse and question everything. When we become adults, we can find trust a lot more difficult. This is especially true if a trust has been broken in our lives and we have been hurt as a result.

A word of caution here! Not all people can be trusted or should be trusted. Not all Christians can or should be trusted. Not all preachers should be trusted, especially those who preach a gospel of fear over a gospel of grace.

But, God can always be trusted. God's promises in God's word are true today and in every generation. God never lets us down. This does not mean that life won't throw things at us, that we'll have dark moments, that God won't lead us in directions that we might not want to go. But God will always lead us to grow us and change us for the better if we simply trust God to do so. God is entirely trustworthy, whatever the circumstances and whatever our feelings.

5. An adventurous spirit

When I was a kid and I went out to play (or 'lekking out' as we used to say) with my brother and friends, my mum would say 'be careful won't you'. However, we'd inevitably ignore those words. We'd return with cuts, scrapes and bruises, but having had a great time.

Children love to adventure, to explore, to go places they've never been before. However, when we become adults, so often that adventurous spirit gets repressed deep inside us. We prefer to play it safe rather than take risks. After all, if we take risks we might fall off our bikes and hurt ourselves. Yet life, true life, is all about taking risks. Not thoughtless stupid risks, but calculated risks. Often, when we're on the threshold of a breakthrough in our lives, when God wants to take us to the next level of life with Him, God shows us a risk we must take to get to that higher place. God will keep challenging our comfort-zones all our lives if we let Him. But greater blessing for ourselves and others in our world will always result from taking godly risks in our lives.

6. Freedom to be my true self

The final child-like characteristic is the freedom to be your true self. Thank God that we have a Church where people are free to be their true selves without prejudice. Like a child, seek to show your essential self. To show who you really are underneath. Be true to yourself, even is this means being misunderstood by others. Let's not get into the habit of having a social self for different situations which is different to our true essential selves. Seek out work and ministry which allows you to be you, to shine out for Christ just by being your wonderful, glorious self! Perhaps your true self has been hidden for years. Perhaps within a serious exterior there's a comedian waiting to be let loose, within a sad exterior, a dancer waiting to be let out, within a sensible middle-class person, a mischievous risk-taking adventurer is just waiting to be called upon. Have you noticed how children don't have the inhibitions that adults have. They don't hold back defensively in their dealings with other people. They can go up to complete strangers and hold a conversation without embarrassment. They aren't bothered by some of the same social filters that we are. Well perhaps you've always wanted to dye your hair purple but never had the guts to. Go on, do it, if this is being true to who you are! Even if you are in your 80s! Whoever you are in the depths of your being, let us see him or her! If God's house is not the place where we can be really true to ourselves, then where is that place? Be free to be you and allow me to be true to me also!

Before we leave this subject, let me ask you a question: When was the last time you behaved a bit silly?

When did you last laugh till your sides hurt, or go paddling in the sea, or pick daisies, or ride a bike up a ramp, or rolled down a hill, or screamed on the waltzer at the fair, or ate candy-floss, or spiked your hair, or played double dare, or had a sleep over. When was the last time you went on an adventure?

I believe that we have a heavenly mandate from God to have fun and enjoy our lives. Living without enjoyment and fun, is to deny God to work through our humanity to reach the world. Next time you confess your sins, you might need to confess:

'I'm really sorry Lord, but today I had no fun. I was miserable and aloof and for this I truly repent. Lord give me the grace to have a laugh today, and not to take myself too seriously. Give me grace to be a grown up kid for you. This I ask through Jesus Christ our Lord.'

Seriously Church, let's remember today to put childish ways behind us, to grow up, and in St. Paul's words, experience the 'glorious freedom of the children of God'

Amen!

(Neil Whitaker)