_THE TRUE STANDARD OF GREATNESS_
MATTHEW xviii. 1-7.
Here is our Lord's estimate of true greatness. How infinite is the
contrast between His standard and the standards of the world! The world
measures greatness by money, or eloquence, or intellectual skill, or even
by prowess on the field of battle. But here is the Lord's
standard--"_Whosoever, therefore, shall humble himself as this little
child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven._"
Those people are greatest who are most like God. We become partakers of
the Divine nature through a child-like relationship to God. The grace and
power of God pour into our souls when we wait upon Him like a little
child.
Child-likeness opens the doors and windows to the incoming of the
Almighty. The child-like is the trustful, and no barriers of cynical
suspicion block the channels of spiritual communion. And the child-like is
the docile, and no boulders of arrogance or self-conceit block the channel
of the invigorating waters of life. And so the child-like become the
God-like, and, of course, they are the greatest among the sons of men. The
little child enshrines the secret of the God-man, and we should be
infinitely wise if we had the little child always in our midst.