Child-like Faith Part 2...

Part 2...

The concept of Childlike faith is a lot like believing in Santa Clause: “seeing isn’t believing, believing is seeing.” (Santa Clause 2) The idea is that we believe something even if there is no evidence to back it up. Childlike faith is devoid of reason and implies inexperience and naivety (hence childlike).

Biblical faith, on the other hand, is defined as understanding truth, and being active in your trust and commitment to God.

In Hebrews 11, the "hall of faith", it describes men in the Old Testament who followed God with their lives. The recurring theme in Hebrews is faith defined as trust- it is assurance and commitment acting out through evidence. As believers, we need to ground ourselves in God’s word, and search for what it means to have real genuine faith.

We need to ask ourselves: "Is there evidence to support this belief system, or is it just based on "feelings"? When you deny principles that are grounded in reality, your faith is wishful- it’s child-like faith. But faith is not wishful thinking; it’s based on reason.

The illustrations in Hebrews 11 give perfect examples of how people put their trust in God by being obedient to what He promised. Everyone at some point in his or her life ends up making a choice on what they will believe. The question is: is their faith based on feelings or reason? Do they have child-like faith or real faith? You may comment below…

written by Melissa Prieskorn

Is Child-Like-Faith Biblical?

Part 1...

In a popular song by Jars of Clay, they sing a lyric that says, “They say that love can heal the broken. They say that hope can make you see. They say that faith can find a Savior. If you would follow and believe, with faith like a child.” What do you think about the idea of “child-like-faith?” Is that how we, as Christians, are supposed to understand or approach God?

In Matthew 18, the disciples asked Jesus who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.” Not only is the phrase “child like faith” not mentioned in this passage, it is not mentioned in the rest of the Bible.*

The word ‘Faith’ is used very flippantly these days to the point that anyone who believes in anything has faith. According to Merriam-Webster, the definition of faith is: “having complete trust or confidence in someone or something.” It sounds like even he didn’t have a very good idea of what faith was!

So what is faith? How would you define it? You may comment below…

written by Melissa Prieskorn

*The term child-like-faith does show up in 1 translation of the Bible, but not in the Matthew 18 passage. Please see: Psalm 116:6 NLT.