Childlike Living

Mark E. Haskins

October 24, 2025

An instructional story repeated must be important. The gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke each tell the story of children being brought to Jesus for blessing. He welcomes them and declares to His devoted, but annoyed, disciples: “… it is to the childlike that the Kingdom of God [or of Heaven] belongs” (Matthew 19: 14, Mark 10: 14, and Luke 18: 16 TCNT). This specific point is emphasized again in Mark and Luke when Jesus continues: “I tell you, unless a man receives the Kingdom of God like a child, he will not enter it at all" (Mark 10: 15 and Luke 18: 17 TCNT). “Childlike” must be an important point even for seasoned followers of Jesus.

There is no doubt that for most of us our youth, our childlike nature, is many miles in the rearview mirror. Maybe we have a handful of mementos tucked away in a dusty box that can trigger a memory or two of a significant childlike moment when we periodically sift through its contents. Or, one of the pleasures of being a grandparent is the opportunity to observe grandkids at play and see how they live—in general, they are joyful, authentic, and trusting. In that regard, I have a photo of one of my granddaughters that captures these and other endearing aspects of a childlike nature. That treasured photo is prominently displayed in our home amongst a handful of other family photos.

Come with me for a moment and picture this scene with the eyes of your heart (Ephesians 1: 18). In doing so, envision yourself in an analogous, current picture with your Heavenly Father. Here’s the setting. The photo captures the mid-air leap of my 4-year-old granddaughter jumping from our lake dock into the waiting, outstretched arms of her daddy who is already in the water. The lake is big. No shorelines are visible. She can’t see the bottom of the lake. She has no idea what else is in the water. She does not know how deep or cold it is. She does not yet know how to swim. She is without a bathing suit, shame, embarassment or anything to encumber her. All she wears is a gleeful smile. Any sort of man-made flotation device is absent. She is totally trusting her daddy. She is untethered from the dock. She is all in. There is no Plan B. She is energetically and eagerly airborne, having left the dock behind. There is only one way for her to go and that is to the arms of her daddy. Her eyes are totally focused on him. She sees nothing but him. You can sense her joyful anticipation. She has heeded her daddy’s call to jump to him and her trust in him is greater than her fear of the leap or what is unknown. Her arms are fully extended. What happens next? Three things. She is caught by her daddy. Her face gets splashed with lots of water and it takes a moment for her to wipe away the water and realize she is safe and where she wanted to be. And she wants to make the leap again! Let’s take a moment to think about all that she exhibited as possibilities for us.

What do we see about her daddy in the photo? He is in deep water, secure, safe, and steady (he is wearing a flotation device). He looks comfortable in, and familiar with, the deep water. His arms are outstretched, beckoning her to leap. His voice and eyes convey assurance and encouragement. He too, is joyful and focused solely on her. He is waiting. He has positioned himself at just the right place to catch her. He is also prepared and happy to do it again and again with her…and he does. When they are finished, I recall that she is wrapped in a towel, sitting on his lap, both of them reveling in the sweet connection they just enjoyed.

What can we take away from this emblematic moment in a young child’s day? Just because we are elder in terms of years and wisdom, does not preclude us from living with a childlike nature. We, too, can live with a sense of adventure, joy, and reliance. We can do so with anticipation and excitement, casting ourselves into the arms of our waiting Heavenly Father. We can be fully in the moment, knowing that He sees us, beckons us, catches us, welcomes us, and shares in the joy of arriving in His arms. We can live without guile, fear, masks, worry, pretenses, false bravado, or self-consciousness. Indeed, we can do all this no matter how old we are.

It is important to also recognize that there are two aspects to our Christian walk. Yes, we are called to live as described above AND we are to also mature in our relationship with the Lord. Our maturity is not a task we undertake on our own. We are assured by the Apostle Paul that we will be nourished, taught, and helped as we grow in that regard: “For of this I am confident, that he [our Heavenly Father] who began a good work in you will complete it in readiness for the Day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1: 6 TCNT). And, our Heavenly Father has called each of us in different ways “. . . for the building up of the Body of the Christ. And this shall continue, until we all attain to that unity which is given by faith and by a fuller knowledge of the Son of God; until we reach the ideal man [woman]--the full standard of the perfection of the Christ.” (Ephesians 4: 12-13 TCNT). We have a role. The maturation process is a transformation to becoming more Christlike! Meditate on that for a moment. What a blessing. What a journey. What an outcome.

There are some mile markers along our path towards spiritual maturity. Four come to mind. One, we are “always ready to give an answer to anyone who asks [about our] reason for the hope that [we] cherish . . . giving it humbly and in all reverence” (I Peter 3: 15 TCNT). Two, we increasingly experience and see the fruits of the spirit in our lives (Galatians 5: 22-23)—love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindliness, generosity, trustfulness, gentleness, self-control. Third, we live as God’s beloved son/daughter, also loving those we encounter (I Corinthians 13: 13). And fourth, we eagerly await Jesus’ return (Titus 2: 13, Philippians 3: 20, Revelation 22: 20). Let’s be more willing to let the ‘little boy’ or ‘little girl’ inside each of us influence how we live our days and approach our Heavenly Daddy, while also folding into those days our understanding of what it is to be an ever-maturing citizen in His kingdom (Philippians 3: 20, Ephesians 2: 19).

NOTES: TCNT is the Twentieth Century New Testament, Revised Edition, Published 1900-1904 by Fleming H Revell Company. In the Public Domain.

Photo used with permission.

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