The Rewards of Humility Matthew 18:4:

Matthew 18:4: Jesus knew we understand best with good audio-visual helps. When He wanted to be sure His disciples understood what true humility was, He called a child to Him. The Greek word is a neuter-gender term, so it could have been either a boy or a girl. It is translated in Strong’s Concordance as a “childling” or infant. (“Infant” did not mean baby in arms, as we use it in North America. As recently as the late 19th century the term meant a small child. And in Europe today infant schools, for example, include preschools and primary schools, and the term may be used for children up to seven or eight years old.) It was a little one. Why is this important?

When Jesus said, “Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven,” English doesn’t make it clear enough that He meant a small child. Our children are born into a sinful world, and it is a shockingly short time before they begin to display tendencies that are anything but humble. But a little one who has been loved and cared for, who still trusts that the world is going to be a good place, a toddler who smiles the grumpies out of every tired adult in the grocery store, a preschooler whose hug makes the cares of the world melt away, that’s an example worth emulating.

The problem is, we know better. We haven’t always been loved and cared for. We know very well the world is often not a good place at all. We even know what this same child looks like when she’s tired and cross, when she doesn’t get her way, when she doesn’t feel like sharing. Where, then, do we get smiles and hugs that banish grumpies and melt the cares of the world?

It seems that the concept of humbling oneself “as this child,” might begin with forgetting what we know. Go back. Turn back the pages, look under all the practical things we learned on the way to adulthood. Remember what we knew before that. Remember when we were certain that we had come from God and were going to God, and He always, always loved us, no matter what. Look at the world as a new and exciting place, full of adventure and mystery. Look into the faces of the other dwellers here and watch for the twinkle that gives away that deep inside, they know, too. Smile. Wait your turn. Hug people. Share. Then, believe it or not, God will treat us as “the greatest in the kingdom.” This is the way Kingdom Citizens act, He says. They love. Because humility equals love. And then the promises start to come true, right before your eyes.