A few weeks ago, Zeke took a nasty spill and landed on his elbow. Within minutes, he had a golf ball sized knot on his arm. He was crying and clearly in a lot of pain. He was holding his arm and crying out in pain anytime it moved. Since we were heading on vacation the next day our doctor wanted us to come get in checked out. While Angela was driving him to the doctor’s office, she heard him mumbling something in the back seat. Thinking he was trying to talk to her, Angela asked him what he said. His response? ”I am praying to God because my arm hurts and He will heal it.” He said it in a matter of fact, “what do you think I’m doing” way.
By the time they arrived at the doctor’s office, the bump was completely gone. The only evidence that anything had happened to his arm was a small scrape. In the waiting room, he was busy playing at the train table with both hands. Just to be on the safe side, the doctor x-rayed his arm. They confirmed that there was nothing broken.
Jesus says in Matthew 18:3, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” There was something beautifully simple about Zeke’s statement. He has been taught that God can heal him. So in his moment of pain, he simply believe God would do it. There wasn’t any doubt in his mind. There was just a three-year old praying to God because he knew that God could take the pain away.
Sometimes we make the gospel a lot more complicated than it needs to be. I believe that’s why Jesus said we need to approach Him like children. We need to have the kind of faith that takes Jesus at His word. We need to have the kind of faith that wholeheartedly believes in the promises of God. We can’t allow our life circumstances to make it more complicated than it really is. A childlike faith is an expectant faith. There isn’t any “let’s wait and see what happens.” Zeke wasn’t shocked when his arm was healed. He prayed and then he moved on to playing with trains at the train table.
Such a simple act by Zeke has challenged me to not over-complicate my faith. God made His promises to me, and I need to have complete confidence that they will come to pass.
until next time…