As A Child – God's Call To Littleness: Recent Episodes
Phil Steer
Full audiobook of "As A Child – God's Call To Littleness" read by the author.
“A small but profound book that unpacks Jesus’ deeply challenging statements about 'becoming like little children', one word at a time.”
“Beautifully written and produced…”
“Packed full of thought-provoking truths…”
“A welcome message for the worn-out and tired Christian…”
“This book will open your eyes to remembering that beautiful state of childlike wonder…”
'"I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."'
'Throughout this book I have sought to show the importance of Jesus’ call for us to become like little children; for I truly believe that a childlike approach is key to us living a life of faith within the kingdom of God, and key to us becoming the people and the church that God wants us to be. Given that you have stayed with me thus far, I trust that you have not completely discounted what I’ve had to say. Even if you don’t agree with it all, I hope that it has at least stirred within you a desire to become more childlike. If so, perhaps the question that you’re now asking is, "How? How can I become like a little child now that I am an adult? Surely I cannot simply roll back the years and think and act as if I am young again?.…'
I hope you enjoy this episode. If you have any questions or comments, please do get in touch via the contact page on the As A Child website - or even send me a voice message. Thank you for listening
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/asachildbook/message
'And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.'
'The word "bless" literally means "speak wellness", and is a declaration of goodness and prosperity upon someone (or something). The original Greek has within it the word logos, meaning "speech" or "word" – which is also the title given to Jesus by John at the start of his gospel account. Thus, when Jesus blesses, we have the Word of Life speaking words of life. However, whilst blessings are given by word, they are also imparted by touch. This is something that we see in the gospel accounts, and also that we feel instinctively. Indeed, we often speak of seeking "the touch of God" upon our lives.…'
I hope you enjoy this episode. If you have any questions or comments, please do get in touch via the contact page on the As A Child website - or even send me a voice message. Thank you for listening,
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/asachildbook/message
'"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."'
'The scene for this exchange was, according to Mark’s account, a house in Capernaum. Jesus had been with his disciples in Judea, on the other side of the Jordan river, healing and teaching the large crowds that flocked to see him. It had doubtless been a long and tiring day, and now his disciples just wanted a bit of peace and quiet and rest and relaxation after the day’s exertions. They also wanted to quiz Jesus about the answer that he’d given to some Pharisees who’d come to test him with a question about divorce. All told, they doubtless just wanted to be left alone and have a little time to themselves. Instead of which there’s a seemingly never-ending stream of people coming to the house, bringing their babies and little children to be touched and prayed for by Jesus. Perhaps the disciples didn’t mind too much at first, but after a while they begin to get more and more agitated and irritated, and just want the people and their children to go away and leave them in peace.…'
I hope you enjoy this episode. If you have any questions or comments, please do get in touch via the contact page on the As A Child website - or even send me a voice message. Thank you for listening,
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/asachildbook/message
'"From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise."'
'I belong to a church in which the children are encouraged to come to the front to sing and dance, and wave flags and streamers during the times of praise and worship. Now doubtless it is a good thing that they are able to take part in the services in this way, rather than having to sit quietly bored whilst we adults sing in our serried ranks. It is good that they can feel welcome in church, able to be themselves rather than having to be on their best behaviour. But one has to ask, is what they’re doing really praise? Do the children truly understand what they are singing or appreciate the One to whom their "praise" is directed? Isn’t it just that they enjoy this time for its own sake? Would it make any difference if they were singing and dancing to regular pop songs? Quite frankly, is it really any different to being at a party or disco (if not quite so much fun)?…'
I hope you enjoy this episode. If you have any questions or comments, please do get in touch via the contact page on the As A Child website - or even send me a voice message. Thank you for listening,
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/asachildbook/message
'"This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven …'"'
'Here, of course, are the opening words of the most famous prayer in Christendom. The Lord’s Prayer must have been prayed by almost every believer ever since Jesus gave it to us in response to his disciples’ request, “Lord, teach us to pray.” But despite its familiarity (dare I say, over-familiarity) there is, I think, an important aspect of the prayer that we can easily overlook: that in praying to God as our Father we are necessarily praying to him as his children. Hence, when we come to God in prayer, we are to do so just like a child coming to her father, wanting to talk with him and ask something of him…'
I hope you enjoy this episode. If you have any questions or comments, please do get in touch via the contact page on the As A Child website - or even send me a voice message. Thank you for listening,
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/asachildbook/message
'Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?'
'As I write this, England has been shocked by several days of rioting and looting that have broken out across London and elsewhere. In my home town, on the outskirts of London, an 11 year old boy has been charged with taking part in the looting of a department store. In the inevitable debate and discussion that has followed there have been many different opinions about the social and economic causes of the riots, and of the action that needs to be taken to deal with the rioters and to prevent it happening again in the future. One common cry, however, has been the need for parents to provide greater discipline for their children…'
I hope you enjoy this episode. If you have any questions or comments, please do get in touch via the contact page on the As A Child website - or even send me a voice message. Thank you for listening,
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/asachildbook/message
'As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.'
'When my daughter turned 11 she received a birthday card that proclaimed, “‘Getting older is fun, it means you don’t have to do what you’re told.’ (Molly, aged 6)”. This young child’s remark makes us smile because, even as grown-ups, we recognise the truth of it. For children are forever being told what to do, forever having their lives ordered by others. From when to get up to when to go to bed, and all points in between: eat this food, wear these clothes, go to school, do this work, come here, go there, do this, don’t do that, and so on and so on. Of course, as adults our days are far from wholly our own but, nonetheless, most of us would struggle to cope with even a fraction of the commands and demands that children are expected to follow, with their lack of autonomy and self-determination…'
I hope you enjoy this episode. If you have any questions or comments, please do get in touch via the contact page on the As A Child website - or even send me a voice message. Thank you for listening,
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/asachildbook/message
'Jesus called the children to him…'
'Jesus was forever calling out to people. He called children to come to him. He called crowds to listen and understand his message. He called the sick to be healed, and the dead to be raised to life. He called four fishermen to follow him, promising to make them “fishers of men”. He called twelve apostles, giving them power and authority to drive out demons and to cure diseases, and sending them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. He called all kinds of people in order that he might transform their lives and so empower them to transform the lives of others…'
I hope you enjoy this episode. If you have any questions or comments, please do get in touch via the contact page on the As A Child website - or even send me a voice message. Thank you for listening,
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/asachildbook/message
'"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."'
'When I was younger my dad had a rather nice record deck. Not unreasonably he wasn’t keen on the idea of me and my brothers using and abusing it, so it was strictly "off limits" – at least until we were older and had learnt how to treat it properly. If we wanted to play our records, then we had our own (rather cheaper) record player; or we could ask Dad if he would mind putting our records on his deck.'
'Some people regard the kingdom of heaven in much the same way. They think that the things of the kingdom are reserved for those who are older, wiser and more mature in their faith.…'
I hope you enjoy this episode. If you have any questions or comments, please do get in touch via the contact page on the As A Child website - or even send me a voice message. Thank you for listening,
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/asachildbook/message
'"I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."'
'As we have seen, acceptance of God and his kingdom is not so much concerned with intellectual assent, as with an instinctive and intuitive response to Jesus: it is less about the mind, and much more about the heart. For Jesus does not say here that we are to believe the kingdom; rather he says that we are to receive the kingdom. We are called not to believe a doctrine but to receive the free gift that God offers us in Jesus. And we are to do so like little children, receiving God’s kingdom just as a little child would receive any other gift: eagerly, excitedly, thankfully, joyfully. No concern about the motivation, no embarrassment about the generosity, no worries about what to give in return; just a simple, open-handed, open-hearted acceptance of the gift that is given…'
I hope you enjoy this episode. If you have any questions or comments, please do get in touch via the contact page on the As A Child website - or even send me a voice message. Thank you for listening,
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/asachildbook/message
'"I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children."'
'One of the more significant moments of my journey of faith came not in a church, nor at a conference, nor indeed in any religious context – but rather, in a car, returning from a weekend cycling with friends in the Black Mountains of South Wales…'
I hope you enjoy this episode. If you have any questions or comments, please do get in touch via the contact page on the As A Child website - or even send me a voice message. Thank you for listening,
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/asachildbook/message
'Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.'
'In the book Alice Through The Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll there is a short exchange between Alice and the White Queen on the subject of belief. "I can’t believe that!" says Alice, responding to the White Queen’s claim that she is "one hundred and one, five months and a day," "one can’t believe impossible things." "I daresay you haven’t had much practice," says the Queen. "Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."…'
I hope you enjoy this episode. If you have any questions or comments, please do get in touch via the contact page on the As A Child website - or even send me a voice message. Thank you for listening,
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/asachildbook/message
'"I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."'
'Whilst on holiday the other year we booked my daughter into a "high ropes adventure" activity. Not unreasonably there was an age restriction of eight years and over, but with my daughter soon to turn ten we did not anticipate that this would be a problem. Imagine her disappointment and our frustration when we arrived at the allotted time, only to discover that she also had to be at least 140cm tall (that’s 4' 8" for those of us who still struggle with metric measurements) and just came up short…'
I hope you enjoy this episode. If you have any questions or comments, please do get in touch via the contact page on the As A Child website - or even send me a voice message. Thank you for listening,
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/asachildbook/message
'"Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."'
'Winston Churchill is reputed to have said of Clement Attlee, the post-war British Prime Minister, that he was "a modest man, who has much to be modest about." This was not, of course, intended to be taken as a compliment. Churchill was suggesting not that Attlee had many significant abilities and achievements about which he could be modest, but rather that his abilities and achievements were of such insignificance that modesty was the only appropriate response. This typically amusing Churchillian put-down hints at what it means to be humble like a child – and it is something rather different from what we adults tend to think of as humility…'
I hope you enjoy this episode. If you have any questions or comments, please do get in touch via the contact page on the As A Child website - or even send me a voice message. Thank you for listening,
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/asachildbook/message
'"I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."'
'Are you one of those people who make New Year's resolutions? That moment, when the old year draws to a close and the new year stands open before us, can seem a particularly appropriate time to take stock of our lives, and resolve that things will be different from now on…'
I hope you enjoy this episode. If you have any questions or comments, please do get in touch via the contact page on the As A Child website - or even send me a voice message. Thank you for listening,
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/asachildbook/message
'"And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me."'
'For many of us the idea of welcome plays a key role in our understanding of how we relate to God. Seekers are exhorted to "welcomes Jesus into their lives," new believers speak of "welcoming Jesus into their heart," those seeking to grow in the gifts are encouraged to "welcome the Holy Spirit." We think of "opening the door" to Jesus, of God coming to make his home with us, and of the need to let him into each and every area in our lives. And although at times we may wish that we could keep our life as our own, at heart we know that true life is to be found only when we are his…'
I hope you enjoy this episode. If you have any questions or comments, please do get in touch via the contact page on the As A Child website - or even send me a voice message. Thank you for listening,
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/asachildbook/message
'When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.'
'"Oh, grow up! Act your age! Stop being so childish!" What parents have not, at some time or other, uttered exclamations such as these in utter exasperation at their child's behaviour? We are generally fairly willing to indulge childish behaviour from the very young; indeed, we might even find it rather amusing and endearing. But as our children grow older and begin to learn how they ought to behave, we find it less and less acceptable when they don't do as they should – and quite right too!…'
I hope you enjoy this episode. If you have any questions or comments, please do get in touch via the contact page on the As A Child website - or even send me a voice message. Thank you for listening,
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/asachildbook/message
'He called a little child and had him stand among them.'
'The disciples have just asked Jesus, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" (or, more to the point, which of them is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven) and now they await his reply. There is, perhaps, just a hint of tension in the air, an uneasy truce at the end of all their squabbling. Soon they will have their answer; the argument will be settled once and for all…'
I hope you enjoy this episode. If you have any questions or comments, please do get in touch via the contact page on the As A Child website - or even send me a voice message. Thank you for listening,
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/asachildbook/message
'At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"'
'"Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" If someone were to come to you and ask this question, how would you respond? Forget for a moment the words of Jesus on the subject. What I am looking for here is not the "correct" theological answer, but rather your own instinctive response. Not, who does Jesus say that it is, but who do you say that it is?…'
I hope you enjoy this episode. If you have any questions or comments, please do get in touch via the contact page on the As A Child website - or even send me a voice message. Thank you for listening,
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/asachildbook/message
An introduction to As A Child - God's Call To Littleness; and the poem, written 10 years earlier, that was really the beginnings of the book.
'As a child I found delight in leaf and twig and tree.
Such simple gifts of nature were a source of joy to me.
Birds singing in the tree-tops, the sun against my face,
Splashing through the puddles, as round the woods I'd race…'
'At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"
He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me."' (Matthew 18:1–5)
'The book is based around those words of Jesus from Matthew 18, along with other passages that relate particularly to the place of children in the kingdom of heaven, and their relationship with their heavenly Father. Each chapter focuses on a single word from one of these passages, and explores what that word, that concept, that idea, might mean in the context of this call to childlikeness. What might it mean, for example, to humble ourselves like a little child or receive like a little child or pray like a little child? What might it mean to become like a little child?'
I hope you enjoy this episode. If you have any questions or comments, please do get in touch via the contact page on the As A Child website - or even send me a voice message. Thank you for listening,
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/asachildbook/message
“Unless you change and become like little children…” Hello – my name’s Phil Steer – and I’d love you to join me as I read “As a Child: God’s Call to Littleness,” exploring these words of Jesus, and what it might truly mean to become like a little child. I wrote the book some years ago, and aspects of my faith and understanding have changed a fair amount in that time. Yet its overall message is, if anything, more important to me now than ever. Readers have said it is “packed full of thought-provoking truths,” “a welcome message for the worn out and tired Christian” and “opens their eyes to remembering that beautiful state of childlike wonder”. The book has twenty short chapters, and my aim is to publish two each week between now and Christmas – when we remember and celebrate God himself coming to us as a little child. Thank you so much for listening to this trailer. Please do subscribe to the podcast, and then share with anyone you think might be interested. Thank you!
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