Little Children...

It's officially my 5th Birthday here 🥺♥️. I must admit that this has been quite an eventful journey. Perhaps because of the many milestones so far I've always felt like a child with many years of experience 😅, or an adult trapped in a child's body. 

Recently in my walk with God, however,  I'm getting back to that proper child-like space 🥺. Beholding Him anew in all His splendour and majesty has me feeling so small...a tiny creature in the presence of such a great and awesome God.

I'm realizing now that even if given a lifetime of walking with God and searching the Scriptures to know Him more, I can never really fully fathom Him. There will always be more to be sought out, so I can never really claim to have known ALL of Him.

It was perplexing at first, but now it's awe-inspiring. Every day I get to behold Him in a different light, and to bow in worship and adoration of Him. My God is infinitely vast; His understanding is unsearchable.

So no, I'm not an "adult" in this sense. I'm but a child that's barely learnt to crawl. I haven't even scratched the surface yet. It makes sense that Paul himself said, "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal..." Such a child-like heart posture! 🥺 And now I can attest to Job's words: 🥺

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Job 26:14 NIV

And these are but the outer fringe of His works; 

how faint the whisper we hear of Him!

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I've always been captivated by the 1st epistle of John simply because of the intimate way He addresses his audience as "little children." We know for a fact that he wasn't writing to children in that sense, but to the body of Christ ~ the believers. 

Notice that more often than not, we tend to identify ourselves as sons of God. Sons are considered mature, capable of being entrusted with important responsibilities. Much as we may have attained some level of maturity such that God uses us in various ways, this should never stand in the way of our identifying ourselves as His little children. 

No matter the heights of spiritual maturity we attain in our pursuit of God, we're never to forget that we're still His dear children. Being that mature son to whom many responsibilities have been entrusted can be quite exhausting. A son gives. A son serves. A son teaches. A son works. But a child does the exact opposite. A child receives. A child is served. A child is taught. A child rests.

Our walk with God is meant to have a perfect harmony of the two. Too often we experience burnouts because we want to be that son that God is immensely proud of. We go all out for Him and forget that we need to be fueled in the place of fellowship with Him. We forget that our first calling is to just be with Him. We forget that all He wants us to do is to sit at His feet and learn from Him. We forget to rest in His arms and receive His love. Sounds a lot like Martha, don't you think?

This new perspective has broadened my understanding on so many things. I now realize that even the unrestrained craving for recognition in the name of titles and positions among men of God is a product of an over-emphasis on "maturity" at the expense of "childlikeness". Not that the former is wrong, but that it's not as important as the latter. Many will claim to have cast out demons and performed miracles in God's name, yet will be cast away along with other "workers of iniquity". You don't want that now, do you?

Maybe it's time we search our hearts. Maybe it's time we allow God to sniff out those subtle elements of pride that make us feel like we've "achieved" some level of spiritual maturity. Those that make us feel "more than." Those that make us think of ourselves more highly than we ought. I'm sharing this because it's a moment of conviction for me too...it couldn't have been more timely. How I pray that we all will get to embrace the childlike humility that God desires. He couldn't have made Himself more clear:

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Matthew 18:1-5 NIV

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, 

"Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"

He called a little child and had him stand among them.

And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me."

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So today, more than ever, I want to identify myself as God's little child 🥺. No matter what heights I scale, I will always be His little child, loved and deeply cherished. It's my prayer that you too will do the same. It's time we embrace our identity - for rightly He has called us His very own children. See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

Finally, to all my fellow little children 🐣🐥🐤:

And now, dear children, continue in Him, so that when He appears we may be confident and unashamed before Him at His coming (1John 2:28).