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Childlike Faith

Luke 10:21 "At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said 'I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed it to little children. Yes, Father, this was for Your good pleasure.'"

How often does God reveal Himself to us and we just think it seems too simple? We think there must be some hidden message, a deeper meaning. Sometimes, we make our faith too complicated. We think we are being "wise and learned" when we over analyze every detail, but Jesus said more than once that we needed to come to Him as children.

This past week, while we were vacationing together, my daughter in law asked my 4 year old granddaughter if she knew what sin was. "Yes", she replied, "It's when you do something bad. It's what the devil wants you to do because he wants to steal your prize."

This was the 4 year old version of John 10:10a: "The thief comes to STEAL, and to kill and to destroy..." Jesus finished this statement on a positive note by telling us that He came so that we could "have life and have it more abundantly."

How do we get so cynical? Why can't we come to Him in childlike faith? Why are we so afraid that by completely surrendering to Him, we are missing out on something? Jesus came to gave us a full and abundant life - starting now not just when we die. Every time we resist Him, every time we are disobedient, every time we sin, we let Satan steal our prize. We either let him steal our eternity with Christ or, if he can't have that, we let him steal our abundant life on earth.

Jesus has already done more than He had to by dying for our sin. Even so, He wants to give us "exceedingly, abundantly more than we can ask or imagine" (Eph 3:20). Why don't we just let Him?

"Dear Jesus, Help us come to You with complete trust - that simple, childlike faith that believes You only want our very best. Forgive us for holding back - something You never did. Thank You for the gift of abundant life."

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