Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. Mark 10:15
Children are amazing. They have such pure and honest hearts. Sometimes they say things that might be considered rude, like if someone smells funny, but they aren’t trying to be rude. They are just being honest.
They view the world in a very simple way because they typically haven’t been corrupted. They believe their parents’ words because they are trusting to a fault. They place full confidence in their parents and trust they would never lead them astray.
Jesus says we must have the heart of a child to enter the kingdom of God. So what exactly does that mean?
Well, Jesus made it clear that we must believe in Him and His resurrection for our sins to be forgiven. We must trust that He is sufficient to pay our sin debt.
Often, adults get so confused by this simple truth. They say, “Well, don’t I have to be good?” No, you aren’t good enough.
“Well, don’t I need to give?” No, you can’t give enough.
“Shouldn’t I do good deeds before I accept Christ?” No, there aren’t enough good deeds to save someone.
We must approach Jesus like a child. Believing Him at face value that all we must do is believe.
As it says in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
I’ve never met a child who hears and understands John 3:16 who wouldn’t accept Christ. But I’ve met a lot of adults, in fact, the majority of adults, who reject Christ because they don’t believe it’s that simple or they feel they need to do more to take part in saving their soul.
Sadly, religions are built around this idea. Every religion, in fact. But Jesus made it simple. So simple a child could understand, and it’s a requirement to understand and believe as a child.
So, let’s take a lesson from the children. Let’s trust Jesus with the simple, pure faith of a child. It’s not about what we can do, but about what He has done for us. Believing this with a child’s heart is the key to entering the kingdom of God.
