Child-like vs Childish faith

From this webpage:

My conversion is a surprising one. I was saved as a preacher.

I was supposedly “saved” and baptized at age seven. Growing up in church, I knew all the right answers. The two components of genuine conversion are faith in Christ (not just in Him but in His Person and sufficient atonement), and repentance of sins. Did I have faith in Christ? Yes, I did – just like I had faith in Santa Clause. He was real to me too. My faith in Jesus, like my faith in Santa, was immature and childish. There is a big difference between a child-like faith and a childish faith. A child-like faith (“Whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it at all.” Mark 10:15) is one that acknowledges absolute helplessness and inability before God. Just as a child is completely unable to physically care for and provide for himself; i.e. a child cannot pay a mortgage, get a job, put food on the table, etc., so are we completely unable from a spiritual standpoint to provide for ourselves. And as far as repentance goes, exactly how does a 7 year-old repent? How does a child that young show genuine repentance? From what does he repent? The only commandment children are given in Scripture is to obey their parents. I dare say that as I grew older I disobeyed my Dad and Mom more, not less.

Fast forwarding, at age 16 I went to see faith healers Nora Lam and R.W. Schambach in hopes of being healed of my Cerebral Palsy. This is what began my interest in the Word-Faith movement. This should have been a warning sign in and of itself for a couple of reasons. One, the very fact that I went to see faith healers showed a real lack of spiritual discernment and maturity – at best. One cannot be spiritually mature and lack discernment at the same time. Spiritual (and biblical) discernment and maturity go hand in hand; they are two sides of the same coin.

Hebrews 5:14 states, “But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.”

Open for discussion