Faith of a Child
Our Men’s Ministry kicked off the Truth Project yesterday, taking the first tour of the program which basically asks the question “What is Truth?” That’s a great question, but even better were the wide array of answers to it by quite a diverse group of people. Can’t wait for next week when we look at the Worldview of Philosophy.
One of the most moving parts of the program yesterday was a discussion around the need of having faith like a child. A video was shown of a young boy, probably 4 or 5 years old, walking up to the edge of a diving board. You could see in his expression and actions that he was scared to jump off of the board into the pool, but in the pool was his mother, standing firm with open arms ready to catch him. As much as his fear was telling him not to jump, his faith in his mother catching him was greater, as proven when he jumps in the pool and is caught by his mother.
This video really hit home, me with a 3 year old son at home. As independent as he is at 3, he is still almost totally dependant on his mother and me to take care of him and protect him. Hopefully, his faith in us is strong and it will remain so until he can rely more and more on himself. Even after he’s grown, I hope his faith in us remains.
Those of you who keep up with us on Facebook and Twitter may recall an incident a couple of months ago where Sammy and I took a tumble at Burger King after I stepped into a hole and sprung my ankle while carrying him. My first concern was whether he was hurt or not, but a not so distant second concern of mine was whether his faith in me protecting him would still be in tact. I felt like I had let him down by dropping him.
Fortunately, at least not noticeably, his faith was not shaken in me. He still trusts me to catch him when he jumps off of the bed, or the slide, or anything and everything he jumps off of. This is quite comforting to me, and hopefully to him too. Faith in our parents to protect us as children helps us to take some risk and come out of comfort zones in order to experience new things – it’s very important.
The video also hit me from a different angle, the one it was supposed to hit me from. My faith in God is likely not where it is supposed to be. As much as I believe in God and that Jesus is my Lord and Savior, I find myself not having the same type of faith in Him as a child has in their parents, at least not all of the time.
It is pretty common for us to fear those things we have no control over. It wasn’t long ago I wrote a blog about my fears of flying, in particular with turbulence in the air. However, shouldn’t my faith in God, if it were the same as a child’s faith, make me trust this to Him? Why do I still fear this?
Obviously, my faith needs more reinforcement, but I think this is a common issue with Christians, that’s why we continue to study the Bible and try to draw closer to God. That’s also why I’m going to church every Saturday morning and taking the tours through the Truth Project – I want to come closer to the Truth.
