Luke 18:16

¹⁶ But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

Born again? Become like little children? These are things that Jesus told his followers and like Nicodemus; we may at first glance look at these verses and say “Shall I crawl back into my mothers womb to become born again?” The simplicity of it all is really amazing. I think that as we start to grow in our walks with Jesus we forget what it was like to be a child. We grow callous, hardened, and have a sense of pride of our accomplishments. The world turns us cold and makes us only trust ourselves. But if we look into what Jesus is saying we see that we need to be like little children. Not in a physical sense, but in a spiritual sense.

I want to first go over a life story. My grandfather was the only father figure I have ever known, and one day I had gotten a bike for my birthday. The only problem was… I didn’t know how to ride it. However, my grandfather was going to help me learn. At first, I had training wheels that locked me in place and kept me from falling. But over time, I took it into my own hands to take those wheels off. Mainly because I was a “big kid” and didn’t need them or so I thought. My grandfather would then spend time holding on to me while I rode the bike. Sometimes I wanted to feel like I was doing it on my own so I either pedaled faster to get away from him or would sneak off to ride my bike without him. It was my first sign of trying to take control of my own life. But guess what. I fell.. Many times. I would get hurt, and go cry to him. Now looking back I see similarities in that story and how God sees me and my journey. The Law that He gave us is similar to those training wheels. As long as I kept them on I would not fall. But over time I resented those limitations and wanted to feel some control over my life. Even when I was trying to do it myself, my grandfather would be there to watch over me and catch me as I stumbled. In turn, God is there to catch us when we fall. We turn away from His laws and go about life our own way. And as long as we keep near to God He will catch us. It is when we try to do things without God that we fall and get hurt and typically end up crying out to Him to help us. Like Proverbs 24:16 says “For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief”; I know that I have fallen many more times than that, but we are called to stand up, brush the dust off, and try again. Children are not sinless. They don’t have all the answers. They trust their parent. And God is the Father we can trust. He wants and knows what is best for us. He will allow us to make mistakes, but He has overcome all of our sins and all of our troubles. If we learn to trust God like children and become humble; knowing that we don’t have all the answers. We have a Father in heaven that will provide and protect us.

John 10:29

My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.