Little kids are hilarious. Don’t believe me? Watch this video featuring clips of Art Linkletter interviewing children on his TV show. Some of the responses are priceless.
I can watch this video over and over again, and still laugh hysterically. My favorite bits are these:
Linkletter: “Hey, you’re a diplomat, are you?”
Boy: “No, I’m a Catholic Baptist!”
Linkletter: “You know who his [George Washington’s] wife is?”
Boy: “Miss America!”
Linkletter: “What did we learn from that story [of Jesus turning water into wine]?”
Girl: “The more wine we get, the better the wedding..”
Linkletter: “Oh I bet God was mad [about Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit].”
Boy: “Yeah, then God sent them to hell, and they transferred onto, um, Los Angeles!”
Linkletter: “What did He [God] do with Eve [to punish her]? Made her what?”
Boy: “A housewife!”
I love spending time with kids. Babysitting young children. Teaching piano lessons. Working with campers as young as 3rd graders at HoneyRock. Some of the best conversations of my life have been with little kids. Not just because they’re funny. But they always surprise with how smart and deep they are. It’s a humbling experience to get corrected by a 5-year-old, or even worse, to lose to one at Wii bowling… True story.
But the best part about kids is how innocent they are. Perhaps the humor that comes from Stewie, the diabolical and matricidal talking baby from Family Guy is because of the fact that he embodies the complete opposite of what a young child is like. The children interviewed by Linkletter didn’t mean to make innuendos or potentially offensive comments, but were just replying to the best of their abilities.
So maybe that’s why Jesus tells us we need the faith of a child. We need to approach Him with the awe and innocence of a child.
Matthew 18 says “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (ESV)
It’s easy to think that we are in charge of everything, to become prideful and arrogant. But Jesus uses a radical example to illustrate the way we must approach our relationship with Him. With faith like a child. We might tend to think that children are not as mature or intelligent as their older counterparts. But Jesus wants us to humble ourselves to the level of a child and know that we are in fact nothing without Him. And we need to run to Him with our arms wide open with the joy and wonder that only a child can encapsulate.
Next time you’re hanging out with a young kid, whether it is your own or not, ask yourself: Is my faith and love for Jesus Christ like that of a young child? And if it is not, what are the barriers and obstacles in my life that is preventing me from that?
I actually don’t like the song “Kids” by MGMT. I hope I didn’t lose any readers due to that confession.
With Arms High and Heart Abandoned 