Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:1-3).
But … we’re grown now. How do we become like children? What does that even mean? As a mom bringing up children, there seem so many days that becoming like a child would be the last thing I would want. In fact, there are days when I can’t seem to wait for the children to grow up!
However, God does tell us that if we adopt that innocent, totally dependent attitude that children live with when they’re very young, our path to heaven will be much easier. “How in the world can we possibly make that happen?” we ask. It’s not easy. We have spent a lifetime being raised to be adults, being told to grow up, hearing so many tell us to behave ourselves, to act our age, and many other instructions on how to become an adult. Now we are here. We are adults. We made it, and then we hear that we are to become like children! We are mired in responsibilities as parents, professionals, and adults.
Life as adults is full of responsibility and stress. All that stress makes it difficult to be innocent and dependent, doesn’t it? It seems like just one more thing to strive for. And that, it seems, is exactly the point of the Scripture verse. It’s what God wants us to strive for! God doesn’t expect perfection. He knows how he made us and that perfection is not what gets us to heaven. Perfection is a gift we are given once we reach our heavenly home. Working to become perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect should be our aim, though. When we are trying to seek heaven in all the ways we know he wants, that tells him our heart is exactly where it ought to be – seeking him. When we keep trying and make union with Jesus for eternity in heaven our goal, God knows our heart is in the right place.
Isn’t that what children do? They keep trying to please by striving to do what their parents want them to do. God is our Father in heaven, and we are his children. So, if we are always striving to do his will, then we are becoming like children. If we acknowledge our dependence upon the Lord for everything in our lives, then we are becoming like children. When we pray, we should ask God our father for the grace to become like children as he wants. He will answer our prayer. If we seek the Lord always and keep our goal of heaven in focus, God will see the child in us and make that child blossom.