Like a Child

And said, Truly I say to you, unless you repent (change, turn about) and become like little children [trusting, lowly, loving, forgiving], you can never enter the kingdom of heaven [at all]. Matthew 18:3 (AMP)

What is it about letting go of our old habit patterns of life? Why do we cling to the old when it was so destructive? How can we be so loyal to a way of life that steals our joy, kills our dreams and destroys our lives?

The people of Jesus' day were no different. They were locked in to their life-styles and had formed a man made religion that had literally forced God out of their presence. Jesus came to restore the lost relationship between God and the people of His love.

Today, the mind set of society is the same as it was then. Self has been enthroned as the ultimate object of worship. God has been reduced to an exalted man, a force, a collective mind, or some other man conceived entity. It is time for a change.

"Repent," is the word that Jesus used to convey the need of humanity. "Become like little children," He said, as He declared it to be the only way a person can enter the kingdom of heaven.

A child is trusting, lowly, loving and forgiving. This is the attitude that one must have to consider repentance. It will take this kind of an attitude for us to humble ourselves to the point that our sinful condition can be admitted as an affront to a holy God. We must lay aside all pride, self-sufficiency and self-protective thinking. We must come to realize that we have dishonored God and counted the gift of His Son as nothing.

Repentance goes further than feeling sorry. It allows that we have grieved the Holy Spirit of grace and are absolutely unwilling to go back to our old ways.

If we say (claim) we have not sinned, we contradict His Word and make Him out to be false and a liar, and His Word is not in us [the divine message of the Gospel is not in our hearts]. 1 John 1:10 (Amp)