“Unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” Matthew 18:3

We all know the famous story of when the disciples were on the road, and they were arguing about who was better than the other. Then they asked Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who is the greatest among us in the kingdom of heaven. Christ, wanting to heal their desire for glory with a struggle for humility, replied saying you must be converted to children to even enter the kingdom of heaven. This for sure is shocking because as the literal disciples of Christ, they felt like they had secured a spot in heaven, however, Christ saw things differently. A very important word that might be accidentally brushed over in this verse is UNLESS. Christ did not say we should try to convert to children and then maybe we will get a bigger mansion in Heaven, but He said we will not enter the kingdom of Heaven if we aren't converted to children! Wow. What is so special about a child that is necessary for us to inherit the kingdom of heaven? 

I want to talk about two of the most amazing qualities of a child that I believe Christ asks of us to obtain the Kingdom of Heaven in our hearts. The first of those is the love a child portrays.

“Love does not envy

Love does not seek its own, 

Love is not provoked, 

Love thinks no evil” 

Love does not envy…. On a Sunday school trip, we went bowling with the kids. I watched as a lot of the kids struggled to carry the ball and roll it and others were quick to get the hang and score points. However, what stuck out to me was the simplicity of the kids cheering for one another. Even if they had 0 points and didn't know how to play, excitement would fill their eyes as they saw one of their friends succeed. This is the true humility that Christ called us to have. The children loved each other so much that they did not focus on themselves or envy another because they were doing better but they chose to rejoice for their friend out of a true simple love. There was no pride in their hearts and that is where love can flourish and grow. Many times, we find out about another friend’s grade or recent achievement that we couldn’t reach and instead of truly being happy for them we get sucked into a pit of self-pity due to our immense self-love. Saint Augustine says, “Love is the beauty of the soul, and envy is its poison”. Love does not envy.

Love does not seek its own… In the story of the feeding of the five thousand we know that when the disciples were trying to find food for the multitude, the child was the one that offered his lunch for the people. Out of the five thousand there, we could probably assume that more people had food that they could have stepped up and offered. However, in their minds, they probably worried about feeding themselves or their family. This child in his lack of focus on himself focused on everyone else who was hungry and in need. He didn't think about how he would probably not get food soon because we know they were there in a deserted place, but he thought about everyone else that was also suffering from hunger. Many times, we focus on ourselves because we think it's the most reasonable thing to do. We say if we don't take care of ourselves, our needs, our wants, and our well-being then no one will. Nevertheless, this child did not worry about himself. Love never seeks itself because love is humility. Love is choosing to care for another’s suffering rather than my own. There when I comfort someone and don't seek my comfort that's when Christ comes and dwells in my heart and comforts me. Loving someone does not mean waiting until it's convenient to offer to them, but it means I will offer to a person even if it means I am not pleasing myself. Because to love is to forget oneself to truly give without limit to others. “The perfect person is the one who thinks continually of others and loves others. He feels deep happiness whenever he makes someone happy; he finds his happiness in making others happy, his rest in giving others rest. He rejoices at others’ joy even if pain surrounds him on every side, and if they are afflicted with pain, he will not rest even if the means of rest are at his feet” ( H.H Pope Shenouda). Love does not seek its own.

Love is not provoked. Love thinks no evil….. I want you to think back to a time when you may have unintentionally hurt a child's feelings. Despite your lapse in apology, the child remained captivated by your presence, their forgiveness extending far beyond your forgetfulness and wrongdoings. In one of the desert father sayings, an elder was asked: "What is humility?" He replied: "It is if your brother sins against you and you forgive him before he asks your forgiveness." When someone harms us intentionally, we throw fits and say being Christian is not being a doormat but standing up for myself and my feelings. However, we do not realize that this is a hidden form of pride. The reason we react this way is because our ego is hurt when someone offends us, and we think how could this person treat me this way? However, we do not realize how much Christ bears from our behavior due to His extreme humility and love towards us. Christ still chooses to see the good in us like that child because the love He has for us is unprovoked due to being conditions. Christ gives us excuses for our actions even if our intention is evil. Christ does this because love thinks no evil. Love is not provoked.

“O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek

To be consoled as to console;

To be understood as to understand;

To be loved as to love. 

For it is in giving that we receive;

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned”

-St. Francis of Assisi

“Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.”

The second trait a child portrays is the unwavering trust they have towards their parents and their lack of worry.  A quick example to portray this is to imagine a child was promised by their dad that they would go to Disneyland. A child would never have any worry about the weather being a potential barrier or a flight issue. That is due to a child being naive and innocent in these circumstances. However, let’s say that this child’s father has worked every day, never missing a day, and the child is aware that his father never misses a day of work. In this case, due to the child’s firm trust in his dad, he still holds on to the promise of going to Disneyland. He doesn't know how his father will do it, but he chooses to trust the promise his father made to him. This is the lack of worrying that we are called to portray when converting to children. Christ isn’t asking us to cancel our minds completely because He gave us wisdom and knowledge as we mature but He asks that as we mature, we can also mature in our faith in Him. C.S Lewis says, "When I became a man, I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to appear very grown up." No matter how grown up we desire to feel, we can only escape a world of stress and worry by depending on the Pantocrator, the One who manages every single thing. One of my favorite quotes says, “A proud man will always be a slave of fear because he relies on himself”. The more we believe that we can achieve on our own the more we will stress and worry. Children never rely on themselves, but they fully rely upon and surrender to their parents because they know their parents are much stronger, wiser, and capable than them. This is what we need to do because life will always be stressful, we can choose to mindfully reject thoughts of worry to depend on God or we can be stuck worrying because we want to rely on our capabilities as we think we have “grown up”. But we don't realize how much easier it is to sit back and let God work. How much easier it is to not think about everything and allow our thoughts to be I trust you, Lord. How much easier it is to lay on Christ's shoulder as a child while He manages our lives because how can we know more than God? Christ made a promise to be with us always even to the end of ages. We can choose to live a life of worry, stress, and fear… or we can rest and be assured of that promise like a child who loves and therefore trusts their parents. We must trust that Our Father knows all we need and what is best for us, for who can know better than Him?