One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could touch and bless them. But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him. When Jesus saw what was happening, he was angry with his disciples. He said to them, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.” -Mark 10:13-15 (NLT)

In any twelve step program, the first step involves admitting the fact that you are powerless over whatever dependency your are facing and it has made your life unmanageable. You cannot face an addiction head-on without first acknowledging that it is real and you can do nothing about it on your own without help. Many people show up to a program like Alcoholics Anonymous and either don’t get or stay sober [clean] because they convince themselves that they can do it on their own and don’t need other people — and most importantly God. In some cases, people get sober and take credit for it all themselves. Those are unfortunately of the type that don’t stick around. Ultimately, if I admit I am powerless, I don’t suddenly gain the power that is necessary to stay sober or clean on a daily basis.

In the same way, we must approach the idea of God and our salvation.

In The Life Recovery Devotional, the very first day discusses the idea of approaching and admitting our powerlessness to whatever our dependency is with the attitude of a little child. The devotion for that day goes on to say that children are a society’s most dependent segment and certainly completely dependent on their parents during the formative years of their development and beyond.

One of the many stumbling blocks between myself and God for the longest time was my addiction. It tried to blind me to everything and keep my sinful nature in check and in service to Satan for as long as it could. I listened to the lies of the enemy that would tell me that God would have nothing to do with me because of the person I had become and that I would never be able to get clean and live a decent God-centered life — ever. Lies, all lies.

Have you approached God as a little child? Jesus will welcome you.