The freedom of adults
Thinking about freedom as the Fourth of July approaches. Wondering who has greater freedom, children or adults? Most kids would say grown-ups do. They can go wherever they want to, whenever they want to. They can spend their money any way they choose. They can stay up late and watch whatever TV shows and movies they like best. They can tell their children what to do and enforce obedience.
Most adults would say we do. We can choose our careers and employers and spouses. We can decide which house to buy or which apartment to rent. We can move to any part of the country or the world. We can buy the clothes that we like and the car that fits our wants and needs. We can determine what and when and where to eat. We can vote.
But those freedoms are far more limited than I ever thought they would be as I was growing up. Even if I’m able to get a college degree, I might not find a job in my field. The man I fall in love with might not love me back. I might not have the money to move where I want to or to buy the house or car that I’ve got my eye on. And do I really have that many options in voting?
Most adults would say we do. We can choose our careers and employers and spouses. We can decide which house to buy or which apartment to rent. We can move to any part of the country or the world. We can buy the clothes that we like and the car that fits our wants and needs. We can determine what and when and where to eat. We can vote.
But those freedoms are far more limited than I ever thought they would be as I was growing up. Even if I’m able to get a college degree, I might not find a job in my field. The man I fall in love with might not love me back. I might not have the money to move where I want to or to buy the house or car that I’ve got my eye on. And do I really have that many options in voting?
The freedom of children
What did Jesus mean when He said to become like little children? I’ve always heard that He meant to have a childlike trust in God. But maybe another way to look at it includes relishing the freedom that childhood brings.
In some ways, children have more freedom than adults do. Kids are free to live in a house that someone else has provided. They don’t have to do the math to figure out whether they can afford it, or decide when it’s time to replace a worn-out appliance, or oversee the cooking and cleaning and yard work.
Children are free to eat the food that someone else has purchased and prepared. They don’t have to make sure they have the ingredients and the pans and the dishes and the skills and the time and the money to put that meal on the table.
Children don’t have to plan for their futures yet. They have a natural trust in the adults who care for them that frees them from anxiety and worry. They don’t have to go looking for love—it’s right there in their homes.
The younger the child, the more freedom they enjoy in expressing their emotions. As we grow older, we learn more appropriate behavior, more self-control, more restraint. A baby cries vigorously when he’s hungry or wet or tired. If a three-year-old is equally dramatic, we call it a tantrum, an unacceptable form of expression.
Children are free from the anxiety and stress of having to be the strong one in the family. When my friend’s marriage ended due to her husband’s adultery, she felt an intense pressure to be strong for their kids. She didn’t have the freedom to pour out her grief, her bitterness, her pain to the same degree that they did. She knew they needed to be able to vent all their emotions to her, including their anger and disappointment for any mistakes that she might have made in the marriage. But it wasn’t a two-way street.
Becoming a little child
Can I become like a little child in God’s eyes in the sense of experiencing the freedoms of childhood? I have some responsibilities for meeting my own needs and ministering to others, but do I take on more burdens than He intends for me to bear?
Just as adults provide the necessities for their children, God cares enough to meet my daily needs (Matthew 6). I have a part in making that happen, in the same sense that children often contribute to the household in whatever little ways they can. But I can be free from the anxiety of worrying about tomorrow.
I don’t have to go looking for love, the way young adults search for a life-long romantic relationship. I’m free to rest in the joy of knowing the surpassing love of Christ. It’s with me wherever I go, whatever I do.
I can express my emotions freely with God. This is a tough one. I began learning from a very early age when and where venting is inappropriate. But is it ever inappropriate with God? Evangelically-correct believers often say yes. The Israelites complained to Moses when they ran out of water on the way to the Promised Land. Their grumbling was described as testing the Lord (Exodus 17:1-7). Therefore we should never complain.
But God knows our thoughts and our hearts. If I’m feeling secretly resentful about the conditions in my life, I can never hide that from Him, no matter how hard I try. I can pour it out freely to Him, as a child voices his disappointments and fears and anger and everything else to a trusted parent.
If I’m truly abiding in Christ as I do this, I’ll learn and grow from the experience. My emotions themselves will mature. I’ll become less susceptible to disappointment and fear and unhappiness. But as long as I’m living in this body, I have the freedom to bring all my cares and feelings to Him. As Sam Williamson writes, “God rebukes Israel for grumbling to each other, but he actually gives us words in the Psalms to say those same thoughts to him.”
What did Jesus mean when He said to become like little children? I’ve always heard that He meant to have a childlike trust in God. But maybe another way to look at it includes relishing the freedom that childhood brings.
In some ways, children have more freedom than adults do. Kids are free to live in a house that someone else has provided. They don’t have to do the math to figure out whether they can afford it, or decide when it’s time to replace a worn-out appliance, or oversee the cooking and cleaning and yard work.
Children are free to eat the food that someone else has purchased and prepared. They don’t have to make sure they have the ingredients and the pans and the dishes and the skills and the time and the money to put that meal on the table.
Children don’t have to plan for their futures yet. They have a natural trust in the adults who care for them that frees them from anxiety and worry. They don’t have to go looking for love—it’s right there in their homes.
The younger the child, the more freedom they enjoy in expressing their emotions. As we grow older, we learn more appropriate behavior, more self-control, more restraint. A baby cries vigorously when he’s hungry or wet or tired. If a three-year-old is equally dramatic, we call it a tantrum, an unacceptable form of expression.
Children are free from the anxiety and stress of having to be the strong one in the family. When my friend’s marriage ended due to her husband’s adultery, she felt an intense pressure to be strong for their kids. She didn’t have the freedom to pour out her grief, her bitterness, her pain to the same degree that they did. She knew they needed to be able to vent all their emotions to her, including their anger and disappointment for any mistakes that she might have made in the marriage. But it wasn’t a two-way street.
Becoming a little child
Can I become like a little child in God’s eyes in the sense of experiencing the freedoms of childhood? I have some responsibilities for meeting my own needs and ministering to others, but do I take on more burdens than He intends for me to bear?
Just as adults provide the necessities for their children, God cares enough to meet my daily needs (Matthew 6). I have a part in making that happen, in the same sense that children often contribute to the household in whatever little ways they can. But I can be free from the anxiety of worrying about tomorrow.
I don’t have to go looking for love, the way young adults search for a life-long romantic relationship. I’m free to rest in the joy of knowing the surpassing love of Christ. It’s with me wherever I go, whatever I do.
I can express my emotions freely with God. This is a tough one. I began learning from a very early age when and where venting is inappropriate. But is it ever inappropriate with God? Evangelically-correct believers often say yes. The Israelites complained to Moses when they ran out of water on the way to the Promised Land. Their grumbling was described as testing the Lord (Exodus 17:1-7). Therefore we should never complain.
But God knows our thoughts and our hearts. If I’m feeling secretly resentful about the conditions in my life, I can never hide that from Him, no matter how hard I try. I can pour it out freely to Him, as a child voices his disappointments and fears and anger and everything else to a trusted parent.
If I’m truly abiding in Christ as I do this, I’ll learn and grow from the experience. My emotions themselves will mature. I’ll become less susceptible to disappointment and fear and unhappiness. But as long as I’m living in this body, I have the freedom to bring all my cares and feelings to Him. As Sam Williamson writes, “God rebukes Israel for grumbling to each other, but he actually gives us words in the Psalms to say those same thoughts to him.”
I have the freedom to be weak. I don’t have to be the strong one who has all the answers, who makes all the right decisions, who takes charge in difficult situations. God can handle that. I have the responsibility to do my best to follow His leading, but He is so much stronger and wiser than I will ever be.
I am a child in relation to God. As my parents cared for me when I was young and bore the weight that was too heavy for me, so my heavenly Father provides for me and frees me from the responsibilities that I can’t handle. I still have to carry the part of the load that belongs to me, but Jesus says that His yoke is easy and His burden is light (Matthew 11:30). My tendency is to magnify that burden with anxiety and self-importance, instead of resting in His assurance that the truth will set me free, and that in Him I can be free indeed (John 8:32, 36).
I am a child in relation to God. As my parents cared for me when I was young and bore the weight that was too heavy for me, so my heavenly Father provides for me and frees me from the responsibilities that I can’t handle. I still have to carry the part of the load that belongs to me, but Jesus says that His yoke is easy and His burden is light (Matthew 11:30). My tendency is to magnify that burden with anxiety and self-importance, instead of resting in His assurance that the truth will set me free, and that in Him I can be free indeed (John 8:32, 36).
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