Faith: Childlike, not Childish

What did Jesus mean when he said we must become like little children?

In this episode of LivingSQ, we reflect on the difference between being childlike and being childish. Through Matthew 18 and Mark 10, we explore how childlike faith is marked by trust, teachability, honesty, and the willingness to receive from God without performance.

This episode is a gentle invitation to consider whether adulthood has made faith more complicated than it needs to be, and what it looks like to return to a simpler, more open posture before God.

Transcript

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Welcome to Living SQ with Indira Rebagreen. And in this space, we focus on applying Scripture to everyday life, growing in wisdom, discernment, and a faith that can actually be seen. Do we still know how to trust without overthinking? Do we still know how to stay open enough to be taught? And do we still know how to come to God honestly? Because these are some of the things children do naturally. They trust, they ask, they receive, they stay open. They don't always understand or know how everything works, but they know who to lean on, they know who to call on, they know how to wonder. And when Jesus said we must become like little children, I don't believe he was telling us to be childish. He was pointing us towards something deeper and different, something many adults lose along the way. It's a posture, a way of relating to God, a way of living with trust, teachability, and honesty. And that is what I want to talk about today. In Matthew 18, Jesus calls a little child to himself, places that child among the disciples, and says that unless they change and become like little children, they will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Now that is a serious statement, especially because he says it to adults, adults who are thinking about position, greatness, importance, and status. And Jesus places a child in the middle of that conversation. That means he's trying to show them something. He is saying, this is the posture, this is the way. Not childishness, childlikeness. Because childishness is immaturity. Childishness is refusing responsibility, and childishness is reacting without wisdom and wanting your own way. But childlike faith is something very different. Childlike faith trusts. Childlike faith stays open and childlike faith comes to God honestly. And I think many of us need that reminder because adulthood can make us heavy in ways we do not always notice. We become more guarded, we become more analytical, we get more self-conscious, we have more practice in protecting ourselves. We get better at performing strength, we get better at sounding put together and managing how we appear. But somewhere in all of that, it becomes harder to trust simply. It becomes harder to stay soft and harder to admit need and harder to receive. And yet, Jesus says this is the posture we need. So let's walk through those three ideas. First, childlike faith trusts. One of the things children do naturally is trust. Now we know, of course, in life, trust can be broken and people can be hurt. So I'm not talking about being naive. I'm talking about the posture that Jesus is highlighting. A healthy child knows how to lean in and lean on someone. A healthy child knows how to ask. Mommy or daddy or auntie or Grammy or whoever it is. A child reaches out, and faith has that same quality. Faith says, God, I trust you enough to lean toward you. Faith says, I don't have to know everything before I obey. And faith says, I don't have to control every outcome before I rest, because I can come to God without having every answer. And that matters because many of us have learned how to trust our own thinking more than we trust God's leading. We overthink, we analyze, we rehearse possibilities, we try to predict outcomes. We keep turning things over in our minds, hoping that more thought will automatically produce more peace. Sometimes peace comes from trust. Sometimes it comes from surrender. It comes from saying, Lord, I don't know everything, but I know you are faithful. That is childlike, and that is not weak. That's wisdom. The second thing is that childlike faith stays open enough to be taught. Children ask questions, they are curious, they're still learning. There is openness there, there's room there, there's a willingness to say, I don't know yet. And that is important because one of the dangers of adulthood is that we can become so closed while sounding mature. We can become fixed in our opinions, we can become overly certain in our own perspective, and we can stop listening deeply. We can even stop asking God to show us where we're wrong, where we are rigid, and where we need growth. We can get so used to functioning that we stop growing and developing. But childlike faith stays teachable. It says, Lord, teach me, show me, correct me, lead me, help me to see what I have not seen before. And that is a beautiful posture. Because in spiritual maturity, you don't know everything, and it's not about acting like you already know everything. Spiritual maturity includes staying open enough for God to interrupt you, for Him to stretch you and to shape you. And that kind of openness takes humility. Third, childlike fate comes to God honestly. Children usually don't know how to hide what they feel. If they are confused, you know it. If they need help, they ask. If they are tired, they show it. If they are upset, they bring it. So there's an honesty there. And I think that honesty matters more than we can realize sometimes. Because many adults have learned to come to God edited, the edited version. Become with the polished version, the acceptable version, the version that might sound spiritual enough or trying to be composed, trying to be proper, trying to sound like we are doing better than we really are. But childlike faith comes honestly. And it says, God, this is where I am. This is what I'm feeling. This is what I don't understand. This is where I'm struggling. This is where I need help. God, this is where I need you. And I think that there is something very freeing about that because God is not asking us for performance, He's asking for truth and honesty. A real relationship built in truth, a real closeness builds in truth. And honesty before God is not a lack of faith. It is often the beginning of an even deeper faith. Because now, once you come with your honesty and your truth, God can meet you in the real place, not the polished place, the real place. And that brings me to Mark 10, where Jesus says that anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it. And that scripture really stands out to me. Receive. Anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child. Because children know how to receive, they know how to accept what is given. They know how to come with open hands. And sometimes we adults struggle with that. We know how to work, how to strive, how to prove, how to manage, how to earn. But receiving is different. It takes humility, it takes trust. It means I don't have to manufacture everything for myself. I don't have to do it all. I can just let grace be grace. And that's a part of what makes childlike faith so beautiful. Because it comes open, it becomes trusting. So maybe that's the question for today. Where have I made faith too complicated? Where have I let overthinking replace trust? And where have I become too closed to be taught? Where have I become so guarded that receiving feels unfamiliar? And maybe I've become too polished to be honest. Jesus did not point to a child by accident. He was showing us a way of being, a way of living close to God, a way of trusting without all the performance, a way of staying soft enough to be taught. So if I were to summarize this simply, I would say it like this Childlike faith trusts God. Childlike faith stays teachable before God, and childlike faith comes honestly to God. And maybe the invitation is not to become less mature, but it's become more open, more trusting, more teachable, more honest, more willing to receive. Childlike, not childish. That's spiritual intelligence, and that's Living SQ. Well, thank you for joining me today on Living SQ. Remember, spiritual intelligence is about developing wisdom and intentionality in how we live what we believe each day. If this episode encouraged you, feel free to share it with someone. Until next time.