C268 6/11/61
© Project Winsome International, 1999

THE BIGNESS OF BEING LITTLE
Dr. John Allan Lavender
Matt.7:11

It is one of the primary articles in the Constitution of Heaven that "grown-ups" never enter there. Jesus made that quite clear when He said: "Except ye be converted and become as little children ye cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven."

Now what did He mean by that? Was He denying the need for growth in the Christian life? Was He making light of the idea of real maturity? Was He contradicting Paul who said: "When I was a child...I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things"?
(1 Cor.13:11g).

Was Jesus trying to make a virtue out of childishness? No. As a matter of fact, a childish Christian is a sad and sorry satire on the meaning of this text. What Jesus was describing here is the quality of child-likeness. "Except ye be converted...turned about, transformed, changed, redirected...and become as little children, ye cannot enter the kingdom of Heaven."

He was urging us to turn back from the folly of our adulthood with its prejudices and pride, its sin and skepticism, to regain the faith of childhood. He was saying that once again we must become pliable and humble, simple and trusting, as a little child. There is something very beautiful about -

The Simplicity Of A Child's Faith.
A little girl was traveling on the train with her Mother and Daddy. It was her first overnight trip and she was just a bit frightened at the thought of spending the night alone in an upper berth. So her parents assured her that God would watch over her throughout the night. After everyone was in bed, and all were quiet on the train, the little girl cried out through the darkness, "Mamma." And her Mother said, "Yes, dear." The child said, "Are you there?" Her Mother said, "Yes, dear, go to sleep." After a short pause, the child said, "Daddy, are you there?" And he answered, "Yes, darling, I'm here. Now go to sleep." The child kept repeating her questions until one of the passengers lost patience and growled, "Yes, we're all here. Your father, mother, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins. We're all here. Now, go to sleep!" There was a short pause and the child said, "Mommy, was that God?"

The faith of a child is so incredibly real. In my sister's little home out in California, she has three or four pictures of Christ which are especially meaningful to her. When my niece Margie was just 3 or 4 years of age, she used to go from picture to picture carrying on conversations with the one she called, "My friend Jesus." If she had a new dress, she'd put it on, swirl around in front of one of the pictures and say, "Do you like it, Jesus?" Sometimes when I watched her primping in front of Him, showing off a shiny new pair of patent leather shoes, or modeling a pretty red coat and saying, "Do you like it, Jesus?" I got the definite feeling that He did like it. I could almost see the picture smile as he said, "Yes, honey, I like it. You look just beautiful."

You see, God is concerned about our concerns. The things which are important to us are important to Him. A pretty new dress or a new pair of shoes are very important to a little girl. God knows that, and, therefore, I'm sure He's interested in them too.

I have a young friend who is very much taken up with basketball. He really loves the game. We were chatting together some time ago, and he expressed the opinion that he probably would never be a great basketball player, but he had a desire to be as good as possible. So, we worked out a little prayer formula where he would talk to God about basketball and ask for the patience and discipline, the determination to keep on practicing until he made the most of whatever ability he had.

Because basketball was so terribly important to that young friend of mine, I'm sure God listened with a sympathetic and understanding ear to his prayer.

God is concerned about our concerns. He is concerned about our todays as well as our tomorrows. He is interested in our temporal as well as our eternal needs. In the simplicity of their faith, our little children know this. And so, with complete freedom and earnestness and credulity, they take their daily concerns to Him.

Actually, there isn't a great deal of difference between our concerns and those of our children. They are just a little bigger and a little broader. Perhaps this morning, you are burdened with an economic problem trying to make ends meet. Perhaps there is some physical need. A gnawing concern about your health. Perhaps there is a deep and desperate longing for more of the peace and the power of God in your life.

Whatever your concern, God understands and cares.
"He sees each falling sparrow;
He hears each falling tear"
He wants to be taken into your confidence. He wants to be part of your everyday life. He wants to help you with your problems. Your needs. Your longings and your dreams.

But unlike our children, who seem instinctively to know God understands and cares, we grown-ups are slow to let Him help us. We say, "God couldn't possibly have any interest in my daily affairs. He is too busy controlling the clock like movement of the stars to have time for me and my ulcerous condition. He has got the whole wide world to watch over. He couldn't possibly be concerned about my little world which threatens to fall apart."

And because of our lack of faith, we miss out on the full measure of peace and joy God wants us to have. We deprive ourselves of the inner poise and power Jesus promised. But the fact remains, dear friend, that God does care. He cares deeply, about the most minute details of your life. Even the hairs on your head are numbered, Jesus said. And if you will be converted, turned about, changed, transformed, redirected, if you will become like a little child and, with the simplicity of a little child's faith, commit your most common concerns to the Heavenly Father, you will begin to enjoy the peace of God which passes all understanding.

I love this little poem because it expresses so beautifully the sweet, confiding faith of a little child, the faith we must all have if we are to fully realize the peace of Christ in our lives.

"Last night my little boy confessed to me
Some childish wrong;
And bending at my knee
He prayed with tears,
'Dear God, make me a man
Like Daddy - wise and strong;
I know you can.'

"Later, while he slept,
I knelt beside his bed,
Confessed my sins
And prayed with low-bowed head,
'Oh God, make me a child
Like my child here,
Pure, guileless,
Trusting Thee with faith sincere.'"

"Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven." But there is another characteristic of child-likeness we ought to emulate and that is --

The Enthusiasm Of A Child's Approach To Life.
Little children have such a zest for living. Every morning they wake up full of enthusiasm for a fresh new day. There is so much to learn. There are so many things to do. And they are so eager to learn them and to do them. They don't miss a bet.

Billy Graham tells a story about a grammar school youngster who was assigned a project of writing an essay on the subject: "Where Did We Come From?" So he went to his grandmother and said, "Grandma, where did I come from?" And Grandma said, "The stork brought you."
"Well, where did Mother come from?" "The stork brought her, too." "Well, where did you come from?" "The stork brought me, too" The boy began his essay with this sentence:
"There hasn't been a natural birth in our family for three generations."

I tell you, our youngsters are sharp. Life is always right in focus. It is incredibly real and filled with wonder.

The sign painter who does a great deal of our work here at the church is an interesting fellow. He has a little goatee and moustache and is quite a philosopher. I love to talk with him. He always has something wonderful to say. The other morning, I was in his place of business laying out some signs we want done, and we got to talking about children and their enthusiasm for life. He told me about his little three year old girl. It seems they'd been out driving a few weeks ago when it was quite cold in the car. So he pointed to the heat indicator on the dashboard and said,
"Honey, you watch this dial, and when it gets over here, that will indicate the engine is warm and we'll turn on the heater in the car." She watched with great fascination as they drove along, watching her Daddy adjust the various knobs and levers of the automobile to make it comfortable. Finally, she burst out. "Daddy, isn't our car marvelous!" My friend said, "You know, Dr. John, I had completely forgotten how marvelous our car is until our little girl reminded me. I had come to take it for granted."

Children have such a zest for living. Such an enthusiastic interest in everything which goes on about them. Francis Thompson put it this way: "Do you know what it is to be a child? It is to be so little that elves can whisper in your ears; it is to turn pumpkins into coaches, and mice into horses; lowliness into loftiness and nothingness into everything; it is to get gold dusty from tumbling among the stars; it is to sit on the lap of Mother Nature and twine her tresses a thousand willful ways to see in which fashion she will look most beautiful. That's what it means to be a child."

But we grown-ups are so jaded. So blase'. We take such a limp attitude toward life. We don't put any starch into it. We are so full of cynicism we have no room for optimism. We confuse "littleness with weakness, child-likeness with childishness, humility with an inferiority complex." We think we know so much that even God can't teach us anything. And, as a result, we short circuit His peace and power in our lives. You must turn back, said Jesus, and become like little children so that once again you can see the sheer wonder of nature, the goodness of God, and the glory of living.

I think you might be amazed at the improvement it would make in your life if each day, even before you rolled out of bed, you said: "This is the day which the Lord hath made, I will rejoice and be glad in it." And if, instead of grumbling because the coffee is too weak, or the eggs are cold, you took the blinders off your eyes and began to look again at the sheer magnificence of life as it is manifest all about you.

Think for a moment about those two eyes of yours. Think about the fact that here are two cameras made out of nothing but chemicals, which are capable of taking three-dimensional, colored pictures and developing them instantaneously without the aid of any machinery or auxiliary plant.

Think about that wonderful mechanism you call your heart and how it functions so flawlessly day in and day out. Or go out into the night and look up at the lofty stars that go on endlessly in their course through the heavens, always on schedule, never varying the slightest infinitesimal part of a second.

And, if some morning you are fortunate enough to see a crocus pushing its way up through the sod, give some thought to the glorious magic of a flower and how, from a tiny seed, such magnificent glory can grow.

I tell you, my friends, we have so much to be thankful for. God has been so good and there is every reason in the world to be happy and hopeful. All we need to do is turn back from our blasé, cynical, so-called adult world and become like little children -- full of enthusiasm and joy.

Somewhere I read about a man who stopped at a filling station down south and saw a sign across the road which read: "Fortunes Told Which Guarantee Your Future." He asked the attendant about it and was told that an old woman lived there who was something of a local celebrity.
"Everything she touches perks up," he was told. Well, this traveler didn't have much faith in fortune telling, but he was feeling somewhat despondent so he crossed the road and paid his money. The woman looked at him for a moment and then she said, "Put out your hand, honey," which he did. She peered at it intently for a time and then said, "Honey, you ain't done livin' yet!"

That's all he got for his money. At first he felt kind of cheated. But as he drove along throughout the day, her words kept coming back again and again: "You ain't done livin' yet!" Gradually that wonderful and vital thought dispelled his depression, and he began to live life with optimism and enthusiasm. And then I think we must be childlike in the sense of capturing something of --

The Completeness Of As Little Child's Trust.
The story is told of a woman who was crossing the ocean a few years ago. A violent storm arose and the ocean liner was in great danger of sinking. Everyone on board was told to don life jackets and stand by the life boats. When the captain appeared, this woman ran up to him and said, "Captain, what are our chances of survival?" The captain looked at her and said, "I'm afraid Madam, that we shall just have to trust in God." To which the woman replied, "My goodness, has it come to that!"

I suppose if he had told her to trust his ability, or if he had emphasized the sturdiness of the ship, she would have been alright. But when he told her to trust in the One who makes "the winds and the waves obey His will," she was on the verge of panic.

I'm afraid a good many of us are just like her. We would rather cling to the boat -- the conditions of our own making -- or trust in the captain -- our fellow man -- than turn over our anxieties, worries, tensions, fears and frustrations to the One who can really still life's storms.

Well, one day Jesus was talking to a group of people like us. As they discussed their doubts and fears, He took a little child into His arms and said something like this: If you want to find the thing you're searching for, become like this little child. She trusts me completely.
There is something beautiful about the flawless a little child. In fact, one of the things that really frightens me sometimes is the absolute and unconditional trust my children place in me. But, I'll tell you one thing; because they do trust me, I'll never do anything to violate their trust. And if you will even put as much trust in God as your children put in you, it will make a mighty difference in your enjoyment of the Christian life.

One of the loveliest expressions of a little child's trust is found in this poem:
"Now I lay me, say it darling,"
"Lay me," lisped the tiny lips
Of my daughter, kneeling, bending,
O'er her folded finger tips.

"Down to sleep." "To Sleep," she murmured,
And the curly head drooped low.
"I pray the Lord," I gently added,
"You can say it all, I know."

"Pray the Lord," the words came faintly,
Fainter still, "My soul to keep."
Then the tired head fairly nodded,
And the child was fast asleep.

But the dewy eyes half opened
When I clasped her to my breast,
And the dear voice softly whispered,
"Mama, God knows all the rest."

Oh the trusting, sweet confiding
Of the child heart! Would that I
Thus might trust my Heavenly Father,
He who hears my feeblest cry.

"Except ye be converted (turned about, changed, transformed, redirected) and become as little children, ye cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven."This morning, will you turn back from your pride and prejudice, your cynicism and skepticism, and learn The Bigness Of Being Little? Will you start now to emulate the simplicity of a little child's faith, the enthusiasm of a little child's approach to life, the completeness of the little child's trust?If so, you'll have help for today and hope for tomorrow. For one of the primary articles in the constitution of heaven is "grown-ups never enter there!" Heaven is reserved for little children!
And, if you walk the way they walk -- the road of faith, enthusiasm and trust -- you will see what they see - the signs along the path marked - Heaven: This Way!

Note: This teaching was also given under the title: Heaven - This Way!