And said, Truly I say to you, Except you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
– Matthew 18:3

Thoughts on Today’s Verse:

This is obviously the Lord’s requirement for entry into the kingdom of heaven. All that He asked of us was to become as little children. What then did the Lord mean by ‘as little children’?

I saw such a passage in a spiritual book, “those who are pure; those who are open; those who are honest; those who are not controlled by any person, thing, or matter; those who are childlike in appearance though they are mature in life, these ones are My beloved, the objects of My blessing” (“The Sixty-ninth Utterance”). “you ought to know that God likes an honest man. God has the substance of faithfulness, and so His word can always be trusted. Furthermore, His actions are faultless and unquestionable. This is why God likes those who are absolutely honest with Him. Honesty means to give your heart to God; to never play Him false in anything; to be open with Him in all things, never cover the truth; to never do that which deceives those above and deludes those below; and to never do that which is done merely to ingratiate yourself with God. In short, to be honest is to refrain from impurity in your actions and words, and to deceive neither God nor man” (Three Admonitions).

God was requiring us to be honest people. God is faithful, and honest people are the ones He likes as well as the ones He intends to save. That’s why only the honest shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. An honest person is straightforward in speaking and acting. Simple and innocent like a child, he never disguises himself before God or other people, nor does he deceive them. Take, for example, Abraham, Job, and Peter. Regardless of how God worked and tested them, and what He demanded of them, they never doubted or complained to Him, nor did they misunderstand Him; rather, they truly obeyed and loved Him, and were willing to suffer losses to their personal interests in order to satisfy God. Such men are ‘as little children’ and are the likeness of true men. They are also the honest people that will enter into the kingdom of heaven.