Faith Like a Child

“Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, ‘children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.’ ” Philippians 2:14,15a (NIV) Don’t you love that innocent, pure feeling when you go to a children’s Christmas event? Doesn’t their singing tug at your heart? Don’t their silly faces looking at the camera bring a smile to your face? There is something about how children view the world — a faith and hope most of us may have forgotten. Anyone can say that they believe, but do we have faith? Do we apply what we believe in our daily lives, or only when it’s working with our plans? At my dad’s life celebration, there was this little girl (she is about eight years old now). During the singing and open mic, she ran up to the front by herself and said, “I remember when Joey used to sing my favourite song, ‘Alive! Alive!’ ” About then the guitar players began to play it, and she started to sing it! It was so special. Nobody had told her to go up front, let alone to sing. And she hadn’t seen my dad at church since he hurt his spine four years prior. So for her to have that memory, to share it, and to sing for him, it was so pure and innocent! It seems that we all start to lose our child-like faith and hope as we let the world’s “magma” cover and crust over God’s wonderful creation with doubt, animosity and fear, among other things. It takes humility, faith and dependence on our Lord and Savior to start to chisel the magma away to become who He made us to be and do the things we were meant to do. Lord, help me to be more like Jesus, and less like me. Amen. — Tayola Brown (L’Hirondelle)   Council Fire is a collaboration with Intertribal Life Ministries and Native Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. The Council Fire Daily Devotional Book Set is available on the Intertribal Life Ministries website. Learn more about Council Fire at councilfire365.org