In Matthew 18, we’re encouraged to ‘become like little children’ otherwise we ‘will never enter the kingdom of heaven’ (Matthew 18:3 NIV). This is a call for us to be ‘childlike’ not ‘childish’ – there are plenty of times in the Bible where we’re called to be mature and not to act in childish ways (take a look at 1 Corinthians 14:20 for an example). But what we’re called to is childlikeness, and there are many qualities of a child that we need to be displaying. The first of these is discipline. Just as children need to accept discipline from their parents, we need to be accepting of God’s discipline. The greatest and wisest father of all is God. He not only loves, He is love. And as His children, He disciplines us out of love. The Bible says, ‘The Lord corrects those he loves, just as parents correct the child they delight in’ (Proverbs 3:12 NCV). None of us like discipline, it’s not something we look forward to or enjoy. But His discipline has a purpose. ‘God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness.’ Through discipline and correction, we become more like Him, which is our ultimate aim. God’s discipline is for a reason, it’s always for our own good and it’s not just God exercising His power and authority over us. He’s not angry with us or disappointed with us, He just wants us to be more like Him. We can’t correct our mistakes if we don’t realise we’ve made them or realise how we can do things differently. So, let’s be childlike in the sense that we’re open to discipline and respect our Father who is correcting us out of love.
What Now?
Spend some time asking God to show you any mistakes you’re currently making. Then ask Him to show you a step you could take towards correcting them.