What does it mean to daily walk in our childlike innocence? Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, and do not stop them, because the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”
Again, he said:
“I assure you that whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.” Mark 10:15 GNT
Jesus put great emphasis on being like a child. As, I think about this idea it seems to be a universal teaching of Jesus: Be childlike. The religious leader Nicodemus comes to mind. How can I go back to my youth? How do I get a do-over?
I love the idea of returning to the thought of being a simpler person. Do you remember your youth—your innocence? Do you remember a time when your head was not so full of pain, shame, and heaviness?
I love idea of simpler, but can I return to simpler ways? Can I really have more peace and rest? Can I laugh and play with a simpler heart? And can one be childlike and adult at the same time? Can I daily walk in my childlike innocence?
The heaviness we experience as an adult is weighed down with protocols and niceties. We make judgements and offer advice about what we see. We try to present an image that is just so. But these efforts get in the way of simplicity. They are not what it means to be childlike.
That is the call and challenge of your life. Can you have a heart that is childlike, full of hope and dreams, and still live in a world full of grown-up heaviness.
We are called to return to our innocence, to protect our innocence, and to daily walk in our innocence.
Read Mark 10:13-16.