From the Mouth of Babes: Lessons in Faith from a 4-Year-Old

It’s that time of year again. Spring training is here and professional baseball is just weeks away. While the pros are still prepping for the upcoming season, middle school baseball and softball started up in our area this past week.

Our local middle school had its first game this week, and since I had been substituting that day I figured I would pop in and catch some of it. It was very convenient as both the baseball and softball teams were playing at home, so I could watch both games at the same time.

As I was preparing to leave, I ran into one of the parents of a girl in our Youth Group who is connected with the Junior Varsity team at the high school. As we were chatting about all sorts of things, the mom began telling me a story about her 4-year-old daughter.

A few weeks ago, this 4-year-old daughter was playing in the nursery with another toddler. They were playing doctor, and they had a sick baby to care for.

I’m not sure how the discussion went exactly, but the baby was healed. The other little girl made some comment about the baby being better and that the doctor had done great work. (Of course, I am not sure how 4-year-olds would really describe an event like this, but you get the idea.)

That is when this mom told me her daughter yelled out, “No! The doctor did not do this. My God healed this baby!”

Matthew 21:16 says, "Do you hear what these children are saying?" they asked him. "Yes," replied Jesus, "have you never read, "'From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise'?"

These verses describe the chief priests and the scribes confronting Jesus in the Temple as they saw the wonders Jesus was performing and the children proclaiming “Hosanna to the Son of David.”

The leaders were mad about what Jesus was doing, who Jesus was, who he was proclaiming to be, and the fact that children were the ones saying it…

Sometimes, we as adults get caught up in minute details that honestly do not matter. We get all worked up about numbers and timelines and “deep” theology. And those things are not bad, but I will always be convinced that loving Jesus is simple.

It is not always easy, but it is a simple concept.

Clearly, this 4-year-old gets it. The mom even said, “With all the stuff we are doing: church, Dig In, Upward, preschool, we must be doing something right.”

And I completely agree!

Who said, kids don’t understand the power of God? Who said, kids don’t get it?

Jesus didn’t say that. In fact, the Bible teaches us that the Lord calls forth praise from their lips.

This little 4-year-old girl was not simply playing doctor that day in the nursery. She was proclaiming the truth of God. She was praising God. She was worshiping God.

She was also reminding us of the truth of God’s Word.

Anyway, I was just thinking…