Are you still a child?

“Mark this: Unless you accept God's kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you'll never get in."
(Lk18:17 Msg.)

Being matured is a good and right thing, it is what we all seek after, and it is what every
parent hope for in their children. Observe that maturity is more than adding on years. As
was said by a man of God “you don’t need the age of Methuselah before you can attain the
Wisdom of Solomon.” Age can and should bring about maturity but it does not necessarily
happen as such. So it is possible to be old and advanced in age and yet not attain to
maturity. To be matured is to be perfected by time or natural growth; it is to be ripe,
prepared and ready. It is to have imbibed, learned changed and made ready for the present
challenges. Whenever therefore life situation catches up with you unawares, you have failed
to be matured (made ready) for such occasion.

Just on the hindsight, you know we always say children behave as if they will never grow
old. Sometimes they despise those who are old and especially helpless. But either they like
it or not, they sure will get to that same position the old ones are even if they are not
prepared for it. Either they know it and/or believe it or not, it sure will catch up with them.
Age will catch up with you either you mature up or not. Age cannot be controlled nor
stopped, we adjust with it and should you fail to, it will be your fault.

On the other hand, just as children forget they will grow old, the older generation
sometimes behave as if they had never been children before. Some even behave as if old
age just jumped on them over night so they are very impatient with children. You and I
know that growing old is a process, it does not happen overnight, it therefore is a series of
falling and rising, crying and laughing, breakthroughs and defeats etc. If as an older being
you remembered you had once been a child, you will easily bear with the failing of the
younger ones.

We can say therefore that to be matured, you first must be a child. Once you miss out on
childhood you can never be matured. Many times though we tell a not so young person
behaving below per to “grow up!” but he cannot grow up if he was not once a child. In other
to fully grasp this we need to know what it means to be a child. Among many explanations
to be a child is to be unfixed in principles, one weak in knowledge, experience, judgement,
or attainment. To be a child according to the Bible is one who is born again, spiritually
renewed and adopted as a child of God.

From the foregoing about being a child we can conclude that being a child is the process of
maturity. It is where you must start, but you cannot afford to stop. Being a child is being in
the middle of maturity. As a child, you are not fully formed in your mind; you are still weak
and vulnerable to all things. At such times you need to be nurtured, taught, tolerated and
loved.

Looking back at the scripture, Jesus said it is expedient for us to come to God and operate
His government as little children else we might never get in. We can from this scripture
deduce that salvation experience is for children. No wonder the word “born again” is being
used. That means to be born again is to be a child again; it is to unlearn what you had
learned over the years and to be willing to learn something different, to become
inexperienced again, to seek for knowledge, to not make decisions and judgements based
on past experiences but to be weak in judgement again. Born again experience is not for the
matured but for the children. In fact, the Bible says except you are born again you can never
see the Kingdom and if you can’t see then you can never enter. The Bible says to enter takes
the word and the Spirit. But the word and the spirit cannot lead those who are not ready to
learn.

If you had never been a child of God you can never become a son/man (matured). It takes
children to be adult. I put it to you that most people who we call immature today are people
who did not actually go through the process of being a child, because they did not yield their
heart to what they were being taught, or they were not taught, they were not tolerated,
nurtured and loved at that time they could not grow up even though they have advanced in
age.

In this month, as we celebrate children’s day, we might as well go through some of the
peculiarities of children in other that we might learn from them the way to maturity and
also the way we might be able to nurture our children on the pathway of maturity. We also
want to use this opportunity to know the things which God expects of us in other that we
might become candidate for God’s Kingdom.

Among many characteristics, a child is trusting, sincere, free, forgiving, dependent and
vulnerable. We shall expand on the meaning of these words briefly that we may understand
them.

To be trusting is to have confidence in; reliance or resting of the mind on the integrity,
veracity, justice, friendship or other sound principle of another person. Simply put, they
have faith in their parent, they believe that they are the best; the richest, the strongest and
they totally believe anything they say. It takes growing up for the child to know that the
parent were not all that he believed them to be. It is expedient as parent that we do not fail
our children’s trust and confidence in us. For you to be qualified for the kingdom of God
also, you must totally believe in God and His promises without any iota of doubt.

A sincere person is being in reality what he appears to be; not feigned; not simulated; not
assumed or said for the sake of appearance; real; not hypocritical or pretended. In short for
a child what you see is what you get, no hanky panky. This we need encourage in our
children. For you also to be qualified for God’s kingdom you need this attribute, as long as
this is deficient in your life, you are too matured for the kingdom. Insincerity will distance
you from God, insincere people are actors, and the sad story is that they are acting in the
presence of the one that cannot be deceived, God.

A child is free i.e. eager, not dull; Open; candid; frank; ingenuous; unreserved; not
pretentious. In the same vein man/woman of God, God hates phoneys. As much as possible
give your children freedom of expression. I am saying in essence that a man who is
pretentious is immature, he has not allowed the free spirit childish character to have its way
in him therefore he is not qualified for God’s kingdom period!
A forgiving person is pardoning; remitting. Disposed to forgive; inclined to overlook
offenses; mild; merciful; compassionate; as a forgiving temper. To be a candidate for the
kingdom, like a child you must learn to forgive and not keep record of wrong. I believe many
believers today have and are hindering themselves from the best of God due to
unforgiveness. Unforgiveness disqualifies them from God’s promises.

Dependent is being subject to the power of; at the disposal of; not able to exist or sustain
itself without the will or power of. It also mean One who is at the disposal of another; one
who is sustained by another, or who relies on another for support or favour; a retainer.
Christianity is founded on absolute dependence on God holding back nothing. The very day
you gave your life to Christ you lost your independence, should you want to hold on to that,
you cease to be born again. As children of God therefore, we must acknowledge and live our
lives totally relying on God.

Finally, for the purpose of our discuss, a child is vulnerable. They are helpless and they don’t
pretend about it, they are subject to mistakes and are susceptible to it. What I mean in
essence is that they don’t pretend to be perfect. They fall to get up again. It is possible for
them to make the same mistake over and over again but one thing is certain, they learn
from their mistakes. God did not expect anyone born again (as a child) to be perfected in
one day. They are supposed to be in a continuous state of learning. Be willing to change but
never deny their vulnerability without God.

These and more are the door way to maturity but it starts with being a child first. As we
celebrate our day (for we all are technically children) we should ask ourselves if we have
gone through these processes or have we out grown them that we have now become unfit
for the kingdom of God? Or are we willing now to become a child again so we might learn
and grow up to son ship indeed? Happy children day, I pray God that our children will
indeed be equipped and ready for the challenges ahead and when they are grown they will
forever be grateful for the preparations we took them through amen.