"Childlike Faith"

Try all that you can, but you will not find a reference to 'childlike faith' in the King James Bible; although it may be in the more liberal translations, of which I do not read. However, there is some creditable meaning to this phrase that has been handed down through generations, but it is not the definition of faith; it defines the person who has the faith. We are not to have the faith of a child, nor faith that is like a child; for children will believe most anything that they are told. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:11, "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things." Faith is being persuaded in the truth; to be firmly persuaded in what you know and believe to be true. This is not the faith of children, because a child can be moved from anything that they have been told. Many people that speak of 'child-like faith' are talking about blind faith, which is faith that just believes because it is told to believe; this is not the faith of a child of God, because we were once blind, but now we see. That being said, childlike faith speaks of humility and dependability of a child in the light of faith. It is something which makes the person that believes humble like a child before his God, and dependent upon that God for his life, as a child is dependant upon his parents for his welfare. Looking back to my childhood, I was a very independent child; one that thought to often that I could make it on my own. However, it was the dependency of my parents which gave me such liberty to assume that I could, because I always knew that I had a home that I could return to in case I failed in my independence. When I was around thirteen years of age I had ran away from home for a period of about six months; living wherever I could and doing whatever I could to survive. But I always knew that I had a home to go back to whenever I ran out of options, because I had a mother that loved me, and would always welcome me back. In a way, this is how our faith in God is based upon; as we know that He will always love us, no matter where we stray off to; and that if we humble our self before Him, He will welcome us back to His loving arms. But just as it was true in my relationship with my mother, so too, we find that the dependency of our God's forgiveness can lead us to sometimes become independent and on our own; only to discover that we cannot make it without Him...