Unless you become like children, there is no heaven for you!

Life’s lesson made it clear that the future belongs to our children. Any generation that messes with children messes with the future. Children, therefore, are the greater tomorrow. If we sow in our children today a bountiful harvest awaits us tomorrow. Therefore, a Church that has no children is a dead Church.

Someone asked me once why I love children. My answer was simple: children are innocent, sincere, honest and straightforward. They are not ambitious, spiteful and proud. If they like you, you will know and if they do not like you, by George, they won’t even come close to you, or they will simply tell you they do not like you. There is no deceit in children. They do not know how to hate or bear a grudge. They can fight with their friends one minute and before you know it, they have made up and are playing and chatting as if they never fought. For children, a black child and a white child are all the same. Any child that begins to hate, be deceitful and spiteful has grown in a family or an environment where those bad habits and attitudes are prevalent. Since children pick up what they see from adults, they begin to act accordingly.

In answering the question of who was the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven Jesus demonstrated thus: “he called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said, “Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me” Mt. 18:1-5.

Children are dependent on their parents or guardians. They trust and look up to those who take care of them. There is nothing that a child has that is not given to him/her by his/her parents or guardians. A child has no money of his/her own, no bank account, no credit card, no car or home to pay mortgage on. And yet all his/her needs are provided for. If she is hungry, she asks for food, if she is sick, she tells the mother. When her clothes are dirty, the mother takes care of them. All the child needs to do is to be alive and her cares are in the hands of her/his parents or guardians. This is how Christ wants us to relate to God, since he is our Father. He urges us to depend on God for our needs. Listen: “Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat (or drink), or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? “Look at the birds in the sky they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them” Mt. 6:25.

We must therefore, be childlike and not childish. We must be humble and unassuming, innocent and sincere; be honest and straightforward in our dealing with one another. If there is a quarrel, like children, we should be quick in making up. Trust and depend on God for our needs. Be kind and forgiving and be fast in sharing what we have with others then the Kingdom of heaven will be ours for the asking. Good luck as you think seriously about the above life’s lesson.