While in Malawi, my team and I took a short journey out to another area of Nkhata Bay to visit a missionary in the area. During our visit to Mphatso Children’s Foundation nursery school we were asked to be a guest in the classroom for a couple of minutes. With the rough English language here and there, verbs get exchanged quite easily and are misinterpreted. We heard the teacher say, “Would you mind performing a little skit and singing a song?” We exchanged glances at one another and started to scramble. In the midst of running through all the children’s songs and bible stories in our heads, we heard the children start to sing. We listening, clapped, and sang along. We were still freaking out that we would need to perform something shortly after the children were done with their performances so our attention was anything but focused. Song after song after song kept coming. After the songs finished the students started to prepare for a small skit as well.
At this point we were starting to wonder what the teacher meant by “Would you mind performing a little skit and singing a song?” and realized that he meant to ask if we would mind if the children performed a skit and a song. All that time worrying about what we would perform was settled by these students rendition of Jesus healing a blind man. The children had a perfect blend of humor and creativity that was added to a 4 year olds take on a bible story.
After a round of applause we thought we were in the clear for sharing anything, but the teacher stopped us in our tracks. He asked if we had any words to share with these children. I stepped up to the plate and took a moment to speak to the children.
I looked out to this class of 25 little 3-4 year olds and felt like I wanted to tell them how much Jesus loved them. I said, “There are many times in the Bible that talk about how Jesus welcomes the little children to his lap because that is how much he loves them-…”
I was interrupted by the teacher in a split second. “Class, who would like to say the verse that she is talking about?”
“Excuse me.” I thought. “How do you know what verse I am talking about? I don’t even know what verse I am talking about.”
I see a little hand rise in the back of the room. “Go ahead,” came from the teacher’s mouth.
“Mark 10:14. Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to them,” quietly crosses over the little heads of these 3-4 year olds to hit my ears.
My mouth drops. My eyes blink. My heart starts to pump.
“What just happened?” I thought to myself. “How did she do that? She was 4 years old! I didn’t even know that verse!”
Hold up.
Doesn’t the Bible say to have child like faith? What does child like faith even mean?…
Well, I just got a wake up call. This was child like faith. This little 4 year old from the bush of Malawi, Africa could speak out a bible verse from the middle of Mark at the drop of a dime. She knew this verse was talking about her and she knew this truth about Jesus’ love. I didn’t need to tell her what she meant to Jesus. She knew it.
Child like faith. Children have no reason to not trust, not love, and not give themselves to someone, to God. Why do we have to be so callused and so hurt in life to make us scared of God? Why do we have to have trust issues to hinder us from believing the truths that are written in the Bible? Why do we have to be so hurt from the world that we can’t love in the ways that God asks us to? Child like faith is just that. Believing like children do, loving like children do, and giving ourselves to Christ like children do is exactly what we should be living like.
I want to stand up in a crowd and be able to speak out scriptural truth knowing and believing every word of it just like this little 4-year-old African girl did. She had no reason to doubt that Jesus opened his lap to her because of how much he loved her, and I have no reason to doubt that just because I am a little older doesn’t mean that Jesus doesn’t have room on that lap for me too.
