Like a Child

by Macy Johnson

“And He took the children in His arms,

put His hands on them and blessed them.”

(Mark 10:16 NIV)

 

I read a devotional about a woman who visited her uncle who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. She said he looked like a little boy, curled up in his bed. She commented, “In some ways, we become different people as we grow older, and yet in other ways, we stay like the children we once were.”

 

Pastor Bob instructed our congregation one Sunday to become like children when we pray to our heavenly Father. As Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane before His trial and crucifixion, He submitted to the authority of His Father, like a child.

 

“Love motivates obedience,” my pastor reminded us. It is all about love. Love came down in Jesus and taught us how to love others. Children will obey the authority figures in their lives if they believe they are valued and loved.

 

Pastor Bob also reminded us that more is “caught than taught” especially with young children. Someone is always watching. Even strangers watch what we do and how we act to see if it is done in love. What will the result be of those actions of love? I can instruct children on how to act, but a better way to teach would be by example, in love.

 

“Train a child in the way he should go,

and when he is old he will not turn from it.”

(Proverbs 22:6 NIV)

 

“Folly is bound up in the heart of a child,

but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him.”

(Proverbs 22:15 NIV)

 

I will humbly submit to the authority of my heavenly Father and will train my inner child in discipline, knowing God loves me because of Jesus’ sacrifice. I hope you will, too!