Childlikeness
To be childlike in faith means to trust in God's love and sovereignty, and to rest in His power and guidance.
Mary Wilder Tileston preaches about the importance of childlikeness in receiving the Kingdom of God, emphasizing the need for perfect trust, resting in God's love, and living in His power. Childlikeness involves simplicity, joy, contentment in one's circumstances, singleness of intention, yielding of the will, and forgetfulness of self in favor of God's claims. To be childlike in the pure sense is to live in God as one's Father, Preserver, and Guide, recognizing His perpetual Presence and Providence.
Text
Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.
LUKE 18:17
DEAR Soul, couldst thou become a child
While yet on earth, meek, undefiled,
Then God Himself were ever near,
And Paradise around thee here.
GERHARD TERSTEEGEN
CHILDLIKENESS, in its Scripture sense, is a perfectness of trust, a resting in a Father's love, a being borne on in its power, living in it--it means a simplicity which resolves all into the one idea of lowly submissiveness to One in whom it lives; a buoyancy of spirit, which is a fountain of joy in itself, always ready to spring forth afresh brightly and happily to meet the claims of the present hour, not looking lingeringly back to the past, nor making plans independently, as of oneself, for the future; a resting contented in one's lot, whatever that lot may be; a singleness of intention; a pliancy, a yielding of the will, a forgetfulness of self in another's claims. To be thus childlike in the pure sense of such an ideal, is to be living in God, as one's Father, one's Preserver, one's Guide, felt to be a perpetual Presence and Providence.
T. T. CARTER
Sermon Outline
- Definition of Childlikeness
- Characteristics of Childlikeness
- Living in God's Presence and Providence
- Perpetual guidance and preservation
- Trust in God's sovereignty and love
- Pliancy, yielding of the will, forgetfulness of self
Key Quotes
“Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.” — Mary Wilder Tileston
“If thou couldst become a child while yet on earth, meek, undefiled, then God Himself were ever near, and Paradise around thee here.” — Mary Wilder Tileston
Application Points
- Cultivate trust in God's sovereignty and love in your daily life.
- Practice contentment with your circumstances, and yield to God's guidance and will.
- Seek to live in simplicity, and to be guided by a sense of wonder and awe in your relationship with God.