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When Jesus says you must
be like a child, or in this case, “accept the kingdom of God like a
child” there is more to it than, in a childlike way, accepting
everything.
The book of Sirach teaches
us what it means to be a child: a child is a symbol of our original
state in creation. Sirach writes that all men were “created with
knowledge in the spirit” and likewise“he puts fear of him in all
flesh.”
Man was created to know,
understand, fear, and love God. Many of us, being hardened to sin, no
longer seek Him, fear Him, or love Him as we should. A child, on the
other hand, has built into him all these things. Children express
innocence and you see how devoted a child is to the parent who loves
them. Since God loves them with a greater love than anyone, they
cling to Him in total trust, and rightly so.
This was the original
state of our creation. In error a child must be corrected, but the
one who loves his parents will willingly listen when he's gone
astray.
When Jesus speaks of
children he speaks about innocence, but not about an innocence where
we don't know anything. The innocence Jesus calls us to is where we
know and trust all that we need to know.
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