No Presumption

February 21

We are admonished through the entirety of our growing-up years to comport ourselves according to a standard of maturity expected of our age. We are admonished that it does not become us to be unruly or to ‘act like children.’ For the most part, that is a truth that we are wise to incorporate into our actions and demeanor.

So, why did Jesus say in Matthew 18:4, “Whosoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven”? There is no guile in a child. There is no presumption in a child. He will accept the veracity of everything that is lived before him by an adult he holds in high esteem.

Jesus is not suggesting that we are to be gullible and blindly accepting of whatever comes our way. Rather, the Lord is making the point that a child lives his life without a sense of his own importance. A child is willing to seek wise counsel when he does not understand. He is willing to bend his will to the greater insight of his teacher. The child is willing to submit himself to correction.

That kind of humility is essential to the believer, for we all have much to learn. If we are to be teachable—by the counselors the Lord sends into our lives or by the Holy Spirit within us as He moves upon our minds and hearts and spirits to teach us “all things” as Jesus promised He would in John 14:26—we must have the heart of a child who is eager to learn and compliant enough to be taught.