“Be like little children…” What does that mean?

Matthew 18: 1. At that moment, the disciples drew near to Y’shua and said, “Who indeed is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven? 2. And Y’shua called a child and made him stand in their midst. 3. And said, Truly I say to you, that unless you change and become like children, you will not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. 4. He therefore who humbles himself like this child, he will be great in the Kingdom of Heaven. 5. And he who receives one like this child in my name receives me. (AENT)

Referencing Matthew 18 above, it would seem that our natural instinct is to believe that the passage refers to behavior – perhaps, “acting childish.” But that’s not what Yeshua means at all. He is, in fact, talking about honing our relationship with God…

Case in point:

Little children, from babyhood on, are naturally curious. They use all their senses of seeing, hearing, touching feeling, smelling, and tasting in order to get a good grasp of their immediate surroundings. (As you know, practically everything ends up in a baby’s mouth!)

Later, as their world expands, they’ll eat dirt, grass, and water from a mud puddle, just to see what they taste like. They will pull a dog’s tail, just to see the animal’s reaction. They drive their parents crazy with questions about everything and anything.

In short, they’re like little sponges, soaking up the entire world around them in their innate drive to learn ALL the basics and “push the limits” to gain knowledge and get their way while doing so. Parents are constantly kept busy teaching and guiding the hungry minds of their inquisitive children, whose curiosity seems to know no bounds!

For instance, when we hold them on our laps to teach them about God, they are “all ears,” asking tons of questions. However, when we become adults who have learned all the basics, we tend to lose the thrill about the world around us and get busy with our respective roles in life.

Truth is, for many (if not most), God often “takes a backseat” and their Bibles lay on some forgotten shelf somewhere to gather dust. Many feel that, just “knowing God” suffices, and there’s no need to do anything else except perhaps go to church sometimes, IF and when they have the time.

They don’t realize that, even though we can’t literally SEE our Creator and His Messiah, He still desires to have a real relationship with us … and today, the ONLY way to have that relationship is to get into the Bible to do some actual reading and studying to find out who God is, and what He expects of His people!

In other words, when it comes to God, many adults tend to lose that wonderful child-like curiosity or the “innate, driving desire” to use all of their senses to actually discover WHOM they are supposed to be worshiping, or HOW to worship Him (all of which can be found in the Bible).

(How can we possibly know what it means to be holy/set apart unto Him UNLESS we KNOW and DO His Word?)