The Mind of a Child

Matthew 18:1-4

There are many lovely characteristics in children - the power to wonder, before they have become deadeningly used to the wonder of the world; the power to forgive and to forget, even when adults and parents treat them unjustly as they so often do. No doubt Jesus was thinking of these things; but, wonder as they are, they are not the main things in His mind. Children have three great qualities which make them the symbol of those who are citizens of God's kingdom.

1. First and foremost, there is the quality which is the keynote of the whole passage - the child's humility. Children do not wish to push themselves forward; rather, they wish to fade into the background. They do not wish for prominence; they would rather be left in obscurity. it is only as they grow up, and begin to be initiated into a competitive world, with its fierce struggle and scramble for prizes and for first places, that this instinctive humility is left behind.

2. There is the child's dependence. To children, a state of dependence is perfectly natural. They never think that they can face life by themselves. They are perfectly content to be utterly dependent on those who love them and care for them. If men and women would accept the fact of their dependence on God, a new strength and a new peace would enter their lives.

3. There is the child's trust. Children are instinctively dependent, and just as instinctively they trust their parents that their needs will be met. When we are children, we cannot buy our own food or our own clothes, or maintain our own home; yet we never doubt that we will be clothed and fed, and that there will be shelter and warmth and comfort waiting for us when we come home. When we are children, we set out on a journey with no means of paying the fare, and with no idea of how to get to our journeys' end, and yet it never enters our heads to doubt that our parents will bring us safely there.

The child's humility is the pattern of the behavior of Christians to their neighbors, and the child's dependence and trust are the pattern of the Christian attitude towards God, the Father of all.

~William Barclay~ "Daily Devotions"