The Upper Room 23rd March 2024 Devotional: Our Source of Power

The Upper Room Devotional 9 July 2022 | Childlike Faith

by admin July 9, 2022

written by admin

THE UPPER ROOM DEVOTIONAL 9 JULY 2022, SATURDAY

Today’s Topic: Childlike Faith
Dori H. Gorman (Tennessee, USA)

TODAY’S READING
1 Corinthians 13:8-13

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Who is God calling me to be when I grow up?

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. – 1 Corinthians 13:11 (NRSV)

“Who do you want to be when you grow up?” My dad asked me that question throughout my childhood. My six-year-old self responded, “I want to be a veterinarian.” “No,” my dad would say. “That’s what you want to do. I asked, ‘Who do you want to be?’” As a child, I equated having a particular job with who I would become. Now I understand how those things are different.

Reflecting on this made me think of other “childish ways.” Have I put them behind me? Is my identity rooted in a title or a position? Do I long for notoriety? Do I still throw tantrums? God wants all of us to come to Jesus with childlike faith, but that’s different from childish faith.

Recently I met a six-year-old boy, Aiden. Following in the footsteps of my dad, I asked Aiden, “Who do you want to be when you grow up?” He replied, “I want to be a man.” His response was childlike but not childish. It was said with the innocence of a child who simply wants to grow and mature — to become the person God created him to be. Aiden’s answer reminds us all that rather than focusing on what we do or how we can make a name for ourselves, we can focus on becoming who God has created us to be.

TODAY’S PRAYER
Dear Lord, give us a faith that is childlike but not childish. Help us to become the persons you created us to be. Amen.

PRAYER FOCUS
Veterinarians