Simplicity
Paradoxically, to get closer to God we have to become simpler, not more complex.
"I tell you the truth: anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." Luke 18:17.
The reason this is hard is because it's so simple.
Your identity, your very being, is as a child of God. That's simply first. So why do we resist this? One reason is because we might equate 'childlike' with 'childish': self-focused, whiners, stubborn, petty, quarrelsome, impatient, etc.
Another reason is that we falsely view adults and children as opposites:
C.S. Lewis: "The modern view seems to me to involve a false conception of growth. They accuse us of arrested development because we have not lost a taste we had in childhood. But surely arrested development consists not in refusing to lose old things but in failing to add new things? . . . a tree grows because it adds rings; a train doesn't grow by leaving one station behind and puffing onto the next . . . if to drop parcels and to leave stations behind were the essence and virtue of growth, why should we stop at the adult? Why should not senile be equally a term of approval?"
In other words, being an adult child means incorporating your childhood into your adulthood, not losing your childhood.
So, how to do this? By rediscovering simple, innate qualities to be:
- Trusting. Albert Einstein said: "The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives."
- Loved. You are not loved because of what you do, but because of who you are.
- Son or Servant? God cares more that we love him than we produce for him.
- Full of Wonder. Life is to be discovered more than determined. Those who have lost their sense of awe, have lost a sense of God. (It's awful not to be awe-ful.)
- Humilty. God places important gifts on the bottom shelves so that all the kids can reach them, especially with supernatural experiences.
- Unpretentious. Run with reckless abandon, sacrificing perfect form for passion, not worrying about how you look. Be a "fool for Christ." (I Cor 4:10)
- Fun. Shun perfectionism. Lighten up. Take yourself less seriously; take God/others more seriously. Release guilt for "the joy of the Lord is your strength." (Neh 8:10.) God is serious about fun!
- Zealous. Be fearlessly curious. Fight for the goods. Enter the challenge. Energetic for the prize.
- Innocent. Don't overcomplicate with compartmentalized thinking. To be "pure of heart" means simply to will one thing: love.
- Free. "Love God and do what you want" (Augustine) means if you are loving God then you are truly free (which is the only genuine freedom.) Rest that even if you error, God will make bad into good if we let Him.
- A Quality Napper. Relax in God. This is so important, especially for a modern American. Enjoy God's presence in the present.
- Submissive. Yield to correction. A child that can't be disciplined can't be taught.
- Weaned. A weaned child can wait for food to be provided. Resist instant gratification. Be able to sacrifice in the short term goods for long term goods.
- Dependent. Total reliance. Life is more about God's love than ours.
- Secure. Only a child of the King is protected from the King's enemies.
- Friendship. God calls you friend.
- Asking. Let God set the limits for blessings! Ask him for more now.
Lastly, to help us be more childlike God may give us our own kids, and that can change our ideas about a lot of things!