Humble, Teachable, Without Malice.

Mat_18:3  And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Mat_18:4  Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Mar 10:13  And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. 

Mar 10:14  But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. 

Mar 10:15  Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. 

Mar 10:16  And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them. 

1Co 14:20  Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men. 

A little child. I have had occasion recently to be around little children and I'm going to consider at what age a child is no longer humble. From birth to a year old a child is without the ability to reason, right? They are developing personalities but their ability to make informed choices doesn't exist. They are being taught though, even at that age. A six month old child picks up a bit of food off the high chair tray and throws it on the floor. The one feeding the child might gently scold them, telling them not to do that. Of course they'll most like use baby language- their tone of voice will change and they'll look at the child wide eyed and perhaps overly exaggerating their stern expression and say, "No, no, we don't throw food."  Will the child understand right away? No. But as the months go by and the reprimanding continues they will learn. Once a child is at the age of knowing that it is wrong to throw food and the comprehension of that fact is known, after that the child still must be taught and grow into the knowledge of the importance of listening to its parents commands. It's a process. You don't expect one year old's to behave like two year old's. and you don't expect two year old's to behave like three year old's and so on. Each year you expect more comprehension and with that you expect obedience to evolve from the comprehension.  They say children will test boundaries and it's true. They will test them to learn what a parent is truly going to enforce and what they won't enforce, or are lax on enforcing. Can they get away with food throwing when their parent is overly tired? Can they get away with food throwing when their parent is preoccupied and even once the parent realizes what was done, the scolding is much lighter than had they witness the tossing of food. These are things that are subtlety learned and mostly not with much real thought- NOT until the child is older and begins to think in terms of being able to get away with bad behavior. A one year old might not quite be at that stage, but you know they are learning. A two year old - well they call it terrible twos, why? Because the child is learning quickly and testing boundaries to continue to learn.

The other night I was around a three year old and they are a handful. However, they are clearly teachable. They might not comprehend fully that their actions might harm them, as they use the blind enthusiasm to play and interact with others- but they are learning. Are they humble?  I have to say to a degree they are. The outright bold defiance is taking shape, but there is still an openness to being taught readily.

I suppose my bottom line here is the humble child is a very young child, unless they are of a certain temperament that people might call shy and quiet. A young five year old child of a humble temperament will be nothing like the young five year old child of a high-spirited temperament.

To be like a child, and to know that in semi-parable state the Kingdom of Heaven is made up of the humble child-like, is to realize the humble child is one who is teachable. The humble child is one who learns right from wrong and chooses right. The humble child is one who is eager to recognize the love of their parent.

Little children were forbidden by the disciples to go to Jesus but Jesus corrected them quickly.

Mat_18:3  And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Mat_18:4  Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

1Co 14:20  Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men. 

Converted into being AS little children-humble, without malice.

Our adult understanding remains, but the malice in us is as a child's before they learn true intention towards evil.

Encarta Dictionary Definition-

Malice

1. Wish to do harm- the intention or desire to cause harm or pain to somebody
2. Intent to do harm- law the intention to commit an unlawful and unjustifiable act that will result in harm to another

Little children, and I'm emphasizing the 'little', for the most part those who aren't perhaps functioning with mental, emotional deficits- do not wish to harm or to cause others any pain. You might hear of the occasional and what used to be rare child who will begin to harm others with the intent to do so, but we usually don't recognize that in a very young child.

We are to be as the child who is without malice, humble, teachable, and yet we are to be as adults in comprehension.

To be this way we truly need a constant conversion experience into the new life of being born again daily- as we die to self daily. We have to comprehend all the malice in us, all the things that rise in us that are clearly not of that child-like humbleness need to be surrendered over and over to the will of God. We understand the wrongness in our selfish, self-centered, self-focused, self-pleasing state of being and strive to be otherwise by the power of God through the Holy Spirit.

God, please, help us to be as the humble child, children in malice and not one who lacks humbleness and has allowed malice to rise up in themselves. Help us to love as You love, give as You gave, live as You lived, we cannot do this on our own. We have an enemy that knows down to the tiniest detail the things it takes to get the malice to rise up in us, to take us from the state of humbleness into the haughtiness that keeps us from full surrender. Please, Father in Heaven, please, keep us from evil in every way. We know You can't take us out of this awful world where evil surrounds us, but You can keep us from partaking in that evil, it is in Your power- Jesus prayed to You for this very thing and we pray for it too. Keep us from Evil, deliver us from Evil- all Evil.