And said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:3 ESV

Having childlike faith right after conversion is no trick at all, but holding on to it after decades is nothing short of a miracle. Believing God can do anything seems simple and then we discover our Christian friends getting divorced, falling into substance abuse or walking away from their faith. So what can we do to keep a childlike faith? We have hope because of three words: when, where and who.

When?  “How precious did that grace appear, the hour I first believed” go the lines from Amazing Grace. So ask yourself, “When did faith bring God’s grace to me? Was when I was looking for Him? Was it on a day I was doing good things? Or was it in an hour when of my worst failures and sin?” Our hope is a grace that began before the dawn of time!

Where?  When I discover I am lying flat on my face, I remember the second word: where. If I can have a childlike faith like the thief right next to Jesus on the cross, then I have hope. That thief looked like he was at the worst place on earth; but of all the people in the Bible only he received the guarantee of heaven directly from the lips of Jesus. The cross where Jesus was dying became the source of all hope for us all.

Who? But greatest of all is not when I found faith, or where I found faith, but in the God who chose to give it to me. My childlike faith is not because I have been a good child; but because my Father has come to my rescue and claimed me as His own!