What is the difference between being childlike and childish?
In Luke 18:17, Jesus says that anyone who does not receive the kingdom like a little child shall not enter into it. Childlike faith provides entrance into the kingdom. And yet many Christians confuse having faith like a child with actually behaving like a child. There are many who may or may not have childlike faith, but who behave in childish ways. Jesus wants us to be childlike, not childish.
Childlike faith trusts. Childlike faith knows no bounds. Childlike faith listens to what is said, and believes it. My daughter Taylor loves to paint and color. Almost every night when I get home from work, one of the first things she says is, "Daddy, will you color with me?" Those of you who have been in our house in recent months have seen the art gallery in our kitchen of all of her work.
A few weeks ago, as we were sitting down for dinner, Taylor noticed a beautiful sunset out of the western window. Wendy told her that Jesus had painted the sky. She thought about that for a moment, and then said, "Mommy, can I paint the sky with Jesus?"
That's childlike faith. Taylor knows that we love her and only have her best interests at heart. We have told her that Jesus loves her too. Taylor also knows that she loves to color. And so, when she sees something that Jesus has colored, she believes that since He loves her, He wants to color with her just like Mommy and Daddy color with her. And I don't know how it all works, but we told her that probably, when she gets to heaven, Jesus will let her paint the sky.
Of course, in order to do that, she realized that she needed wings. So she asked if Jesus would give her wings. I told her that Jesus would probably give her wings so she could fly like a bird into the sky to paint it. Taylor looked at me very seriously and said, "No, Daddy. Not like a bird. Like a Taylor."
Childlike faith. It believes the most amazing things. Taylor believes she will paint the sky, and that to get there, she doesn't need to be like a bird, she can go just as she is, with the minor addition of wings. Childlike faith is simple. It is pure. It is honest. It simply believes. It is beautiful.
Childishness, on the other hand, is not beautiful. What is childishness? Childishness is childlike behavior gone sour. Childishness is a refusal to grow up. Childishness is when a person of any age acts younger than they are. While it is natural for children to act like children, it is expected that they will grow up and stop acting like children. When they do not, they are being childish. Childishness is when people who should know better throw temper tantrums and pout when they don't get their way. Childishness is when people are irresponsible and behave as if the world revolves around them. Childishness is when people make petty demands and selfish complaints.
Children are born with the natural tendency to disobey, to throw temper tantrums, to cry when they don't get their way, to scream at the top of their voice when they get a little bit hungry, and to fuss when they get tired. It is a parent's responsibility to train and discipline these things out of child. If a boy turns eight, and consistently throws temper tantrums in order to get his way, he is acting childish. If a girl turns fifteen, and still pouts and cries when asked to vacuum the living room, she is acting childish. These sinful tendencies must be trained and disciplined out of a child. Children must grow up.
Acting like a child is okay and expected when we are children. But as we grow up and mature, as we are trained and disciplined, we should leave childish ways behind. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:11, "When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things." When you are a child, it is okay to act like one. But as you grow up, you should put away childish behavior.
In culture and society, we have a pretty normal method for accomplishing this. Hopefully, as children age, they are trained and disciplined and taught about life. They are given good work habits, taught good study skills, and learn appropriate social behavior. This is maybe not as common as some would like, but this is the goal. Most parents want their children to grow up, mature, move out and become successful.
But when it comes to spiritual children in the church, we have become experts at fostering and encouraging perpetual immaturity. Many churches do everything they can to stunt growth. We allow spiritual babes to remain spiritual babes - forever.
They cry for candy; we give them candy, rather than the milk and meat of the Word that they need to grow. They throw temper tantrums, and we give in to their desires. They threaten to run away from home, and so we buy them the toys they want. We play the little games. We feed the felt needs. We cater to the selfish desires.
I am reading a book called The Transformation of American Religion by Alan Wolfe. It is an amazing critique of modern churches and how they are no longer standing up for the truth, but instead cater to the demands and desires of people. He says several times that the American church is becoming just another self-help organization, where it gives people what they want to hear, rather than what they need to hear. This is exactly what Paul says will happen to churches that do not remain true to Biblical truth, and Alan Wolfe has documented it.
The most amazing thing about the book however, is that Alan Wolfe is not a Christian. He's not religious at all. Yet here he is, a non-Christian sociologist, surveying the American religious landscape, and arriving at the conclusion that the church has lost its power and influence because it now caters to the demands and desires of the people, rather than holding fast to Biblical truth.
He even says that if the church is going to survive, it must return to the one thing it has which nobody else does - Biblical truth. This is what a non-Christian says. But really, who cares what he says? He could say just the opposite - as many do - and we would still say, "Who cares?" What matters most is what God says in His Word. And God says that a church must dedicate itself, a pastor must devote himself to the teaching and preaching of the Word of God so that the Christians in that church can grow up into maturity (Eph. 4:11-16; 2 Tim. 2; Heb. 6; 2 Pet. 2). God's goal is that Christians will leave childish ways behind, and grow up into maturity by the faithful preaching and teaching of the Word of God.
But this is not happening in most American churches. And so we find ourselves in a situation similar to what we read about in Hebrews 5. The Christians whom the letter is addressed to had been saved for quite some time. The author says that by this time, they ought to be teaching others, but they are still babes. They still need milk, not solid food. He tells them in Hebrews 6 to leave childish thinking and childish ways behind and move on to maturity. Paul speaks similarly to the Christians of Corinth in 1 Corinthians 3.
So while childlike faith is commendable, childish Christianity is not. So we must root childish ways out of our life. But before we can root these ways out of our life, we need to know what they look like. Toward this end, in Luke 7:31-35, Jesus provides two defining characteristics of childish Christianity. He is speaking to the people of His own day, before the church has come into existence, but the principles He provides are universal. Christ explains how some of the people in His day are childish, and we must take care that His indictment of them is not true of us either. Jesus introduces this idea in verses 31-32.
http://www.tillhecomes.org/Text%20Sermons/Luke/Luke%207%2031-35.htmLinkback:
https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=41143.0
