Episode #406: More Than Conquerors as His Kids – Becoming Childlike

Have you ever noticed what happens when a kid tries something and gets hurt? They're learning to walk or ride a bike, and they fall, and they get up. They may cry. They run to someone they trust and get comforted and consoled, and then they go to try again. I've been thinking about this lately in the context of how we, as God's kids, can grow in being childlike. And how oftentimes growth in spiritual maturity is demonstrated in childlike reliance on God.

And it had me thinking about something I observed way back before I even had kids. I had a coworker whose family had stopped by the office to come visit him at work, and his toddler walked straight into the doorjamb on the way into the building. You could hear the bonk. And I watched to see what would happen, and this little toddler boy looked at his dad, and his dad went “bonk!” and shook his head, shook his body. And the boy repeated it, “bonk!” and shook it off, and walked into the building.

And that has stayed with me. That was a lesson that Jared and I applied with our own kids, especially at those younger ages. Because what I observed in the moment was that this young child was looking to his dad, who he trusted, to try and make sense about what had just happened. How big a deal is this? Should I cry? Does this merit me crying over? Should I be concerned? Are you concerned that I just walked headfirst into this doorjamb? And the dad wasn't concerned. He didn't freak out, and the kid was able to rely on that as comfort and move forward without freaking out either.

This is something that was reiterated to Jared and I when we started raising our own kids, and how sometimes they're just gonna cry. It hurts, and we comfort and console them. But sometimes they learn to have a bigger reaction to something when we as parents have a bigger reaction to something. And so I had to practice mitigating my reaction when they would fall in a way that didn't need to be responded to seriously.

So I'm thinking about this in the context of us as God's kids and how we go through really hard things. We make mistakes. We fall down. We live in a fallen world. We have conflict with one another. We go through hardship. We have an enemy who schemes against our well-being. And how we as God's kids can look to Him to receive comfort, to be consoled, and to get a sense about how we can respond to the circumstances that we're facing, even the painful ones.

I wanna read for us a larger passage of Scripture today, and it's from Romans chapter 8, and I'll start in verse 35. It says,

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: 'For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

Those are intense negative circumstances. But it says:

“No. In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

God doesn't only meet us when we get up to try again. He is there to help us conquer in the middle of it. No matter what we face, there is nothing that can separate us from the God who loves us. And He is the one who makes us conquerors. In all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

And so as you face difficult circumstances, you can respond like a child. To turn to your loving Father, whose love is never far away, to come and receive what you need, the trust, the comfort, the healing, and also courage to respond like a conqueror in those circumstances because they will not thwart you. None of these areas of hardship can separate you from God's love, and He is with you through them, boots on the ground.

And so here's a question that I invite you to take to God today, especially as you're navigating hard things:

God, what demonstrations of your love can I notice as I face hard things today?

Have a good talk.

And if you've been encouraged by this content, please share it with a friend and help them grow in their conversational relationship with God too!

Connect with Jen on Instagram(opens in new tab)