Maybe there’s something to this “faith like a child” thing …

Stories of faith can be inspiring, but stories of the faith of a child can be especially moving and motivating.

Perhaps you’ve heard of the story about a village in the throes of a drought. It had been many days since there had been a drop of rain, and the drought was growing increasing severe for the farmers. So the village leaders called for all the people to gather so that they might pray together for rain. As the villagers and farmers began to arrive and gather around to pray, along comes a little boy … carrying an umbrella!

That story has been told in so many variations I have no idea if it’s true or a “pretty” fable, but there is a true story in the Bible about a boy who demonstrates an inspiring act of faith among adults, but whose action is generally overlooked in our reading of scripture.

This boy is mentioned once, as if in passing, in the story about Jesus’ feeding of 5,000 people (that’s just men, not including women and children). In fact, of the four Gospel writers, only John makes mention that it was a boy who had the five loaves of bread and two fish which Jesus would take and multiply miraculously to feed the entire crowd … with leftovers remaining! You can find and read the whole story in John 6:1-13, but here’s the part we often give little heed to:

“Then Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up. ‘There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?'” John 6:8-9.

I doubt that the disciples demanded or wrestled this meal away from the boy, it’s likely they asked if he would be willing to share his food with others, and the boy likely offered what he had.

Truth be told, in all the times I’ve read this story in the Bible, the mention of the boy didn’t slow me down much. But recently I was listening to a message by a Christian college professor who noted that when his young daughter heard this story she remarked, “That’s a big deal!”

The girl’s father said yes, such an amazing miracle of feeding 5,000 people was a big deal. But the girl explained to her father she meant the fact the boy offered his food was what she thought was a big deal … because he didn’t know if he would get it back.

Unless, of course, he had faith in what Jesus could do with it … when His own disciples didn’t.

That’s a big deal!

Because that’s a beautiful act of faith, demonstrated by a child.

Maybe there’s something to this “faith like a child” thing that Jesus would speak of:

“One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could touch and bless them. But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him. When Jesus saw what was happening, he was angry with his disciples. He said to them, ‘Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.’ Then he took the children in his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them,” Mark 10:13-16.

“About that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, ‘Who is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?’ Jesus called a little child to him and put the child among them. Then he said, ‘I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me. But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to have a large millstone tied around your neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea,” Matthew 18:1-6.

If you were invited to a prayer meeting to pray for rain, would you think of bringing an umbrella?

If you were among a crowd of thousands of people who needed to be fed, and were the only person who thought to bring a meager meal, would you offer it thinking it could be used to feed everyone there?

Maybe there really is something to this “faith like a child” thing … something we adults need to learn from.

Scotty