_CHILDLIKENESS_
MARK ix. 33-41.
It is the child-spirit that finds life's golden gates, and that finds them
all ajar. The proudly aggressive spirit, contending for place and power,
may force many a door, but they are not doors which open into enduring
wealth and peace. Real inheritances become ours only through humility.
The proud are, therefore, self-deceived. They think they have succeeded
when they have signally failed. They have the shadow, but they have missed
the substance. They may have the applause of the world, but the angels
sigh over their defeat. They pride themselves on having "got on"; the
angels weep because they have "gone down."
When we grow away from childlikeness we are "in a decline." "God resisteth
the proud; He giveth grace to the humble." The lowly make great
discoveries; to them the earth is full of God's glory.