When I was about six or seven I went to my cousins house and she was going through her toys and decided on a pile of stuff animals she was going to throw away. In that pile there was a little brown bear with a little pink sleeping bag. I picked it up and asked her if she was going to throw it away and if I could have it. She said I could and from that moment on, "Holly" the bear never left my side.
I took her to the store and placed her in the shopping cart, Holly and I went to the library and I made sure to pick out a book her size, I read with her, I talked with her, I put her in her sleeping bag right next to me whenever I went to bed, and we had tea on many occasions. I think back to how much that precious bear meant to me, how much I cared for Holly, and what a big part of my life she was and I feel in awe.
When I think back to Christ's words: "Have a childlike faith." I can't help but believe that He meant so much more than leaping with the fearlessness of a child. We are called to cherish Christ with everything we have. To spend every moment thinking about Him, to be eager to spend time with Him and he quick to give Him praise.
"From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger." Psalm 8:2 NIV
The Message puts it this way: "Nursing infants gurgle choruses about you; toddlers shout the songs that drown out enemy talk, and silence atheist babble."
In Matthew 11, Jesus is speaking to people somewhat out of frustration because they were ignoring his messages and miracles and in the middle of speaking with them, He interrupts Himself to speak with God and says: "I praise you Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes Father, for this was your good pleasure."
Of all the religious leaders and wise men, no one could understand Jesus' message. But God revealed it in the hearts of little children, and it was His pleasure.
Matthew 18:2-6 "He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me."
Mark 10:16 "And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them."
Matthew 21:12 "Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”
The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant. “Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him. “Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read, “‘From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise?”
I didn't earn Holly. I didn't deserve Holly. I didn't pay for or trade for Holly. I never even looked or search for Holly, yet she was the most important thing to me as a child. I cherished that life-less beanie baby with all of my child heart.
How much more should I cherish Christ.
How much more should I want Him to never leave my side. To go to the store with Him, to go to the library with Him, to read with Him, to talk with Him, to lie down with Him by my side at night, and to spend time in fellowship with Him over a cup of coffee.
We are called to be children of Christ in every aspect. To have the faith of a child, and to also have the gentleness, the loyalty, the compassion, and the boldness to cherish like that of a child.
1 John 3:1 "See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!"
