It's both amusing and sometimes irritating when a child nears age 3 and starts endlessly asking "Why?" If you’ve spent much time around little people, you know what I mean.
Developing toddlers are naturally curious about their world and want to learn.
It's sad and even dangerous that many adults lose that childlike wonder and stop asking why.
Perhaps this is part of what Jesus meant when He said: "I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven." (Matthew 18:3-4 NLT)
The Humility to Question
What does it mean to be "humble as this little child"? A child knows they don't have all the answers. They've eager to learn, quick to admit what they don't know, and trust that someone wiser can teach them.
In contrast, too often adults assume they know the answers to the most important questions, or they just don't care enough to wonder. Without a humble opinion of oneself in relationship to God and others, we assume our knowledge, opinions, and experiences are superior to those around us. We also assume that God is on our side, without questioning our assumptions, when the purpose of Scripture and the Holy Spirit is to bring us to God's side.
Pause for a moment and ask yourself: When was the last time I genuinely questioned one of my deeply held beliefs—not to abandon it, but to understand it more fully? When did I last approach God's Word with the curiosity of a child rather than the assumptions of an expert? If those moments feel distant, perhaps that's exactly why we need to recover this posture of wonder.
The Complacency of Certainty
Jesus' description of the Laodicean church in Revelation 3:17 is of a church that has lost its sense of humility. The church says, "I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing." Yet Jesus reveals their true condition: "But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked."
When we become content with our spiritual life and stop asking questions, we stop growing. To stop growing is to begin dying. Consider your own spiritual life honestly: Are you still wrestling with Scripture, or have you reduced it to familiar proof texts? Do your prayers still express genuine seeking, or have they become routine recitations?
The Laodicean church claims, "I have need of nothing" because its individual members have settled into "truth" and have stopped seeking a deeper knowledge of the Truth. Think of every doctrine we cherish as a morsel of truth from the Bread of Life. Jesus Himself declared, "I am the Bread of Life" (John 6:35). If we stop eating from the Bread of Life, where will our life come from?
To stop asking "why?" is to settle into complacency. Complacency leads to great loss.
Conviction vs. Convenience
When asking "why?" we must also examine the answers. If the answers we accept align more with convenience than conviction, we are drifting into complacency.
Convenience lacks purpose and we drift into a life that lacks meaning. In contrast, conviction is ripe with purpose and meaning. Convenience settles into a life where we just do enough to get by. Conviction, inspired by God's Word and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, enables us to thrive.
Consider your own Sabbath-keeping. Be honest with yourself: Do you observe the Sabbath out of convenience—because it's what your family has always done, or what's expected in your community? Or do you keep the Sabbath out of deep conviction—a response to God's invitation to rest in His presence, to remember creation, to rejoice in salvation, and to anticipate eternal rest with Him?
If you struggled to answer that question immediately, or if your first instinct was defensiveness, that itself is worth exploring. Why does the question make you uncomfortable? What might that discomfort reveal?
Questions Worth Asking
Of all the questions we may ask, questions that lead us to examine our priorities, beliefs and behaviors are among the most valuable. Set aside any defensiveness you might feel and honestly examine your life through these questions. Don't answer them quickly or automatically. Sit with them. Let them challenge you:
Now ask yourself the harder question: How many of your answers reflected genuine conviction versus simple convenience or habit? If you found yourself making excuses rather than examining them, that's a sign you've stopped asking "why" in that area of your life.
Returning to Wonder
The three-year-old asking "Why?" isn't being difficult—they're being fully alive. They haven't yet learned to accept the world as it is; they want to understand it deeply.
Jesus calls us back to that same posture of wonder, not because God wants us to remain immature, but because humble curiosity produces maturity and protects us from arrogance.
When we stop asking "why" we stop expecting God to speak. We've heard it all before. We've settled our doctrines, organized our beliefs, and arranged our lives into comfortable patterns that require nothing more from us.
Ask yourself right now: In which areas of my life have I stopped expecting God to speak? Where have I essentially told Him, "I've got this figured out—no need to intervene"? Your marriage? Your parenting? Your career? Your use of money? Your relationships? The areas where you most quickly respond "everything's fine" are often the very areas most in need of humble questioning.
But the Christian life isn't meant to be comfortable—it's meant to be transformative. And transformation requires the humility to question, the courage to examine answers honestly, and the faith to keep seeking the Bread of Life, even when we think we've had our fill.
So ask "why" again—but this time, ask it about your own life. Not as a challenge to truth, but as an invitation to know Truth more deeply. Not to tear down your faith, but to build it on firmer ground.
Which area of your life most needs this kind of honest examination? You probably already know what it is—it's the thing you've been avoiding thinking about too carefully. Start there. Let conviction replace convenience. Let curiosity reawaken wonder. Let the hard questions lead you back to the only One who has the answers we truly need.
The Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these—not to those who have stopped asking, but to those who never stop seeking. The question is: Will you be humble enough to join them?