In a famous passage from the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus—when asked by his disciples, “Who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”—exhorts us to “become as little children” to “enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:2-3). Given the context, it seems that our Lord was emphasizing the cruciality of humility for true saving faith. However, I believe there are still other vital benefits of childlikeness, particularly for Christians influenced by the prevailing materialism of our day. Perhaps the most compelling defense of childlikeness that I have encountered comes from G.K. Chesterton’s Orthodoxy . In this spiritual autobiography, Chesterton recounts his path to discovering the truth of the Christian creed, and a major theme throughout is his resultant return to an outlook of childlike wonder. Chesterton says much about returning to the “garden of childhood”¹ after becoming a Christian, and we can scarcely plumb the depths of this idea here, but let’s briefly consider one particularly in...