BECOME AS LITTLE CHILDREN

 
Matthew 18:3-4

"...Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven." 

What does it mean for an adult to become as a little child?  When we think of little children we think of those that are not dependable, cannot take care of themselves, and are not responsible.  If we truly read the scriptures we will find that Christ has asked us to adopt into our hearts and lives the honest, innocent, and good qualities of a child.  You notice he did not say a teenager or an older child, but a little child, meaning a young child.

Children are Humble, Submissive, and Teachable

A key quality of a young child is their humble eagerness to learn and their willingness to be taught. 

We are mortal children who have spirits that need refinement and perfecting, that is why we came to earth.  We are all ‘works in progress’ living in this earth school, ready to learn and grow and because of that God has given us weakness to make us humble. 

“…ye are little children, and ye have not as yet understood how great blessings the Father hath in his own hands and prepared for you. And ye cannot bear all things now; nevertheless, be of good cheer, for I will lead you along. The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the riches of eternity are yours.”

When babies become children they learn to use their agency to choose to be happy or unhappy.  They choose to obey or not obey and they choose how long they will pout when given a punishment for their disobedience.

As spirit children of our Heavenly Father we also use our agency and we choose to be happy or unhappy, obedient or disobedient, learn or not learn from our mistakes.

We can choose to have humility and we can choose to be willing to learn and to do better.  When we do we become more Christ like.
So what is the heart of a small child?  HUMBLE.

 Children are quick to Forgive and are Full of Love

It is amazing how fast a child will forgive.  Young children are without guile.  When they do something wrong it shows in their face.  I had a child that sucked his thumb.  For Christmas, in his stocking, he got a product to put on his thumb so it tasted nasty therefor making it so he would not suck it.  He went in and poured it into the toilet and flushed it down.  Then he came back into the living room and announced what he had done.  He had no thought to hide his bad deed.

Our young ones are quick to forgive us as parents.  How many times I would scold a child only to have him come to me and give me a big hug.

Are we quick to forgive?  Do we hide our bad deeds from others?  Do we try to hide our bad deeds from the Lord? When our spouse is cross with us are we quick to go to them and hug them and tell them we love them?

Faith and Joy

Children do not know the meaning of self-doubt or self-consciousness. They do not doubt or criticize themselves and think they are different. They aren’t worried about what clothes they have on; in fact they would prefer just a diaper, if that. My one year old grandbaby just simply enjoys himself.  He is the youngest of 9 and he thinks the world revolves around him. Everything he does he looks around to make sure everyone is enjoying what he is doing as much as he is enjoying himself.  When the older siblings come home from school he is the first to greet them, clap, laugh, and give hugs and kisses.  When they walk in the door he knows they have come home for him.  Faith is the life-breath of a child

Would we like to have that childlike purity and joy again?  Well we can by the cleansing Atonement of Jesus Christ.  Each day we need to aspire to have childlike or Christ like qualities.

“…and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.”  Mosiah 3:19

Each day we need to work on becoming

submissive

meek

humble

patient

full of love

willing to submit to all things the Lord seeth fit to inflict

As we work on those attributes and we partake of the Atonement of Jesus Christ we will become closer and closer to him and someday become as a little child, whole and ready to live with our Heavenly Father again.

Love this Video:

And here is a great talk: