Improve Your Spiritual Life by Acting like...a Child?

Photo by ann_jutatip

Pressure always seems to accompany important goals.

Perform well, or fail in your purpose. That's what we tell ourselves.

As I've been writing my book, I've begun feeling the heaviness of intimidating, unanswered questions. What if I fail? What if I don't have what it takes to write a best selling book?

The pressure recently came to a tipping point for me. I started feeling like I had brought a Nerf gun into a war zone. I'm so in over my head, I thought. I don't know how to do this.

So I broke down. I wept over feeling inadequate to carry God's message well enough. He had entrusted me with something to say, something that's changed my life, and I felt completely insufficient to share that message in a compelling way.

But then, God met me with a surprising answer.

There's a little story in the Bible about how Jesus interacted with children (Matt. 19:14), where he says something extremely peculiar:

"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them — for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."

I've heard this verse all my life — but the message hit me differently this time:

The kingdom belongs to people who live, love, and ask like little children. People who don't fake like they know it all, like they can handle the heavy lifting alone. People who instead realize the need to depend on the one who's been guiding their story all along.

"Depending on God" has become a muddled, colorless phrase — a ringing we've tuned out, a smell we've gotten used to. We mindlessly say, "Yes, depend on God." And then we go off to build our castles without inviting Him to help.

But we've missed one thing — one wildly important thing — that we can't build anything of eternal significance without His hands.

When we do try, it's like carrying a toy gun into a war zone. Your gun may be big and impressive...but it's still shooting Nerf darts. Have fun trying to win a war with your Nerf darts.

We are out of our league.

But maybe God likes that. Maybe He crafted our lives this way on purpose, so He would get the glory instead.

That's been God's rhythm from the beginning.

So often, we feel unfit to do important things in this world. But we forget that He used the unfit people to do his greatest works.

Look what Moses said —“Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue...” (Exodus 4:10). 

Or what Gideon said —“Pardon me, my Lord, but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family” (Judges 6:15).

God always seems to invite the "unfit" to be key players in His big rescue story. Because they seem to be the only ones with the heart space to let God do what He wants. They're the only ones who know they HAVE to depend on Him.

In that case, I'm so glad I fit into the "unfit" category!

So God wants you to become more dependent, like a child. 

How do you do that?

Here are some ways to be more like a kid:

1. Kids know when they need help, and they ask for it. When children get hungry, they don't think, I've got to find a way to get the money to pay for McDonalds. They just say, "MOM! I need food." And they ask for it unashamedly. Because they're kids.

2. Kids have full trust that their parents will attend to their needs. As one might expect, children are masters of "childlike faith." After making their needs known, they don't sit there and worry whether their parents are going to come through. Kids have faith that their needs will actually be met.

3. Kids operate out of that safety. If it's dinner time, they'll make their way downstairs. If they need something for school — no need to order it online, because mom said it's going to be waiting for them by the door tomorrow.  Kids' actions reflect the certainty that their needs will be met.

I want these qualities in my relationship with God.

Because once they make their way into my spiritual life, I know I'll begin to see them in my writing, my job, and my ministry.

I'm convinced God wants that for me. And I think he wants it for you, too.

What might it look like for you to adopt childlike habits in your spiritual life?