Childlike Wonder
Do you look at your life and the world with a sense of wonder?
Verse of the Day
“I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.”
Today’s Devotional
Have you ever considered why Jesus told us to receive God’s Kingdom like children? What is it about children that we are to model?
Children are typically pretty quick to trust and love. They are eager to learn. They don’t take themselves or anyone else too seriously. They love to laugh. They don’t ever feel a need to prepare themselves for something, they simply come as they are. Children don’t pretend that they don’t need their parents. No, they are keenly aware of their need.
And then there is wonder. Children are full of wonder. They are easily amazed and rarely cynical. So what is wonder? It’s basically a beautiful combination of curiosity and amazement. Think of a child who sees a firefly for the first time. When my daughter was little we would watch local weather on Christmas Eve because they would show us where Santa Claus was on the map. I can picture her eyes opening wide and lighting up because of her excitement.
Our God is full of wonder. Hence the word “wonderful”. His love for us is more than we can fathom, which should fill us with awe and wonder. But sadly, for some, this creates doubt instead of wonder.
Our culture esteems adulthood in a way that makes these words of Jesus hard to understand, much less obey. Let’s look at what Oswald Chambers says:
“I do not think we have enough of the wondering spirit that the Holy Spirit gives. It is the child-spirit. A child is always wide awake with wonder. But as we get older we forget that a child’s wonder is nearer the truth than our adult knowledge. When through Jesus we are rightly related to God, we learn to watch and wait, and wait wonderingly.
“I wonder how God will answer this prayer.”
“I wonder how God will answer the prayer the Holy Spirit is praying in me.”
“I wonder what glory God will bring to himself out of the strange perplexities I am in.”
“I wonder what new turn His providence will take in manifesting himself in my ways.”
The childlike wondering mind of the Holy Spirit, if I may say so reverently, was exhibited in the Lord Jesus Christ as everlasting wonder and expectancy at His Father’s working: “I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in me does the works” (John 14:10). Our Lord said that when the Holy Spirit is come, “He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak” (John 16:13). The Lord Jesus spoke and worked from the great big child-heart of God. God Almighty became incarnate as a little child, and Jesus Christ’s message in us must become like that of little children. God always keeps the minds of His children open with wonder, with open-eyed expectancy for Him to come in where He likes.
God grant we may have the wonder of the child-heart that the Holy Spirit gives, and that He may keep our minds young and vigorous and never stagnant, never asleep, but always awake with child-eyed wonder at the next wonderful thing God will do.”
Since most things in God’s economy work the opposite way our human economy does, perhaps it is time to pray for God to help each of us to be more childlike in our faith and in our prayers. To obey this teaching of Jesus and look at God’s Kingdom with curiosity, amazement, and awe. Friday we will discuss childlike living, but for today, let’s be people who look upon who God is and all that He has done with absolute wonder.
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
What are some characteristics of children that you admire?
How could you behave in a more childlike manner?
What has God done that fills you with wonder?
How do you receive God’s Kingdom like a child? How do you receive it like an adult?
What do you think Jesus really meant about us being like little children?
How can you ask God to increase your sense of wonder?