Jesus My Lord and My God   Ajit Leons Ministries

What does it mean to be “child-like?”

So Jesus called a child, made him stand in front of them, and said, “I assure you that unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the Kingdom of heaven….” (Mt 18.2-3)

This Word of God is preached the world over. Priests, pastors, Gospel preachers, and all those who preach this Word of God, say that Jesus asks us, by this, to take on the good nature/attributes/ qualities of children, like innocence, obedience, simplicity, etc.

I also preached in the same way initially. However, one day when I was meditating on this Word of God in my prayer room, I heard the voice of our Lord Jesus Christ. He said to me that this was not the essence/meaning of this Word of God.

In reply, I asked, “Lord Jesus, what is it that you really meant by this Word of God?”

He said, “What is being preached is only the secondary aspects which may supplement the primary and true meaning.”

And I requested, “Lord, you are the Teacher, the Master, please teach me; please reveal this mystery to me, my Lord Jesus.”

Then he said, “Take a child of 6 years of this generation and a child of 6 years of six generations back, and tell me whether, over the period of time, the innocence in a child has increased or decreased or remain the same?”

After a few moments of thinking, I replied, “The innocence has definitely decreased, as the latter child would have been more innocent, especially with the growing trend of easy access to information, influence of the media like Television, etc. of this time and generation.”

To this our Lord Jesus said, “In my teachings I have clearly said, ‘Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away’ (Mt 24.35; Mk 13.31; Lk 21.33). In other words, the Word of God I have spoken has the quality of consistency and constancy. So, the meaning I have intended by my words will also have these qualities. Yet, over a period of time, there is a change-like the decrease, in the innocence of a child – which means that these attributes do not have the quality of consistency and constancy. Therefore, this is not the true meaning of ‘being child-like.’

I eagerly asked again, “Please reveal to me the true meaning, my Lord Jesus.”

To this he gave another question, “What is the difference between the new born of a human being compared to that of any other creature?”

A good number of answers buzzed through my mind. As I was not sure whether they were correct or wrong, I decided to take the safe route, and I answered, “My Lord, I am thinking of many answers, but as I am unsure of their correctness, I can safely say only one thing and that is, “I do not know.”

I felt as though our Lord Jesus laughed heartily at my careful answer. Anyway he gave an example saying, “Take a cow that has given birth to a calf. Moments after the calf is born it will seek, by itself and on its own power, its mother’s milk for its survival. Then take the new born child of man. The child will just lie where it is born unable to do anything. The child cannot do anything on its own for its own survival; it is totally helpless and wholly dependent on its parents for its survival and for everything. This has been the condition of a new born child not only from the beginning of mankind but is so even now and will always be so in the future, irrespective of the manner in which the child is born. Also, these conditions have the qualities of consistency and constancy. So this is what I meant by this Word of God.”

I realized that this meant irrespective of whether the child is born normally or through caesarean or even if the child is an IV or Test-tube baby or born through a surrogate mother the conditions of “total helplessness” and “total reliance/dependence” of a child on its parents have not changed in any way over all this period of time and can never change.

Further, we know that a human child is handled with extreme tender care (even in the way it is held lest its neck hurt, feeding of a child even if it does not cry, etc.) and given every protection to keep it safe, by the parents. This hints at the kind of care and protection we will get from the Lord our God the moment we become child-like.

From this revelation I understood the mystery of this Word of God.

I understood that before the Lord our God, our Creator, even a man who may be 1000 years old is like a child, a new born baby.

Therefore, the mystery of this Word of God is that a person should become like a new born child, which is the state of “total helplessness and total dependence/reliance on the Lord our God, our Creator, our Father in heaven, and in our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit; for survival and for everything.” All other factors preached in the light of this Word of God are but interpretations, secondary to the true meaning and the essence.

I hope the revelation of the mystery of this Word of God will open your minds to the fact of there being many more wonderful mysteries which are waiting to be revealed to us. It is a call for each of us to turn to our Lord Jesus and walk in the living faith in the living God, Our Father in heaven through the power of the Holy Spirit so that we can perceive such revelations as and when they are given to us.