The Chronicles of Biscuit - Square Roots

The Chronicles of Biscuit - Stories about our youngest son, Tyler, whose nickname is Biscuit.

Last week, after Tyler got in the car after school, he began talking about squart roots.  He's in 3rd grade, so in my mind I was thinking, "I can't believe what young kids learn now!  I don't remember learning about that until junior high or high school and don't remember much of anything about it!".  Tyler continued by saying the teacher was asking him to tell the square root of 25 (he answered 5), the square root of 16 (he answered 4), and on and on.  After a few answers, he explained that the answer was just a number times itself, such as 4 x 4 is 16, etc.  Then he said, "You know?  Little kids would probably think it would be 4 + 4, but not me.  I know it's 4 x 4.  Mom, am I a big kid?"

I was still amazed at the whole square root thing to begin with, so I didn't answer immediately.  I thought quickly about the best way to answer him and came up with the answer that he's kind of in the middle.  Not big, but not little.  Nine years old is kind of in-between, don't you think?  He seemed satisfied with my answer and went on to talk about other things from his school day.  And.....I was still stuck on the fact that he knew more about square roots than I did!

The whole big kid/little kid thing got me to thinking, though.  In the Bible, Jesus tells His followers to be like little children, but then in other scriptures it talks about how we should not be infants, but to grow to maturity.  Is this a contradiction???  Not at all!  We can be as children, but also be mature.  The key is wisdom.  Wisdom in knowing when to be like each of those characteristics.

People were also bringing babies to Jesus to have him touch them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

Luke 18:15-17

We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food.  Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.

Hebrews 5:11-13

To be like children is to "come to Jesus" like Jesus mentioned in the scriptures above.  They longed to know about Jesus and wanted to be near him.  Little children have full faith in their father, just as we should in our Heavenly Father.  We should have faith, trust, and confidence in the Father as the little children did who were coming to Jesus.

As mature Christians, though, we should be growing in wisdom, in faith, and in our relationship with God/Jesus.  We should stand firm on the foundation layeed out in scriptures and be able to teach others about Jesus.  If we're not growing...if we're not maturing....we're still infants, and in that way, we're not pleasing our Heavenly Father.

Biscuit wanted assurance that he wasn't a little kid because of his square root knowledge.  As Christians, we should be examining our lives to see what age group we fall into, as well.  Are you a child, with a strong desire to be close to Jesus?  Or are you a "big kid" who tries to tackle the world all by yourself?  Are you an infant, still not sure about your faith and struggling to grow in your Christian walk?  Or are you in the process of maturing, learning and growing in your faith and in your relationship with God and Jesus?  We can be as children, but be mature.  It is possible.  With God all things are possible!