Like a Child

Just finished the 1st day of the 13th International Kids Village in Singapore. I'm very inspired by the countries who joined namely Brunei, Canada, Indonesia, Malaysia, Qatar, Seychelles, Australia, China, United Kingdom, Singapore, and the Philippines.  Seeing kids expressing their convictions as World Changers inspires and excites me of the future. I heard them saying, "I can change the world by taking care of our earth."  Another one said, "I can change the world by telling others about Jesus." And from other kids, "I can change the world by helping the poor" and "I can change the world by obeying my parents and loving my family."


Simple yet, powerful statements that come from their pure hearts. I guess when we grow up, we tend to lose our ideals.  Suddenly, we don't really want to change the world, we just want to pay our bills and move on with our own lives.  It's as if our ideals have been reduced to saying, "As long as me and my family are secure, the rest of the world can take care of their own problems." We are influenced by the materialism of this world to think only of ourselves. Many of us have become "me-centric."


Let us therefore be child-like.  And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:3).


Children are dependent of their parents.  Just like us, we have to be dependent to our Father in heaven, to Jesus, and Mother Mary.  Our sense of independence from God, and "unconsciously" not needing Him by neglecting to set our prayer time leads us to rely on our own strength. We need God, period.


Children like to discover things.  Kids are curious. They are always excited, because they know that they will experience many things for the first time. My 3-year old son, Sev, when entering the cinema for the first time said, "wow Dad, a big TV!" My son is fascinated with many things, specially animals like the Zebra and the Hippopotamus.  Every time we pray and open the Bible, God has something new for us to discover.  We just have to be curious like a child and continue to be fascinated with His Word.


Children believe in God 100%.  When we teach our kids about Christ, in pure faith, they know that He created the world.  They know that Jesus loves them.  Kids believe that Jesus is their Super Hero who saves all of us from our sins.  It is this kind of faith, that makes them idealistic in being World Changers. They just know that God will help them do many impossible things.


Let us pause for a while, and look at the world around us.  There is a real need for change, to restore the world back to God's original plan. But we first have to change ourselves by being child-like. We are to be changed by Christ, and the rest will follow.  


Mother Teresa said, If you cannot feed a hundred people, then feed just one." She also said that, "Each one of them is Jesus in disguise."