Jesus Loves the Little Children

In Matthew 18, Jesus is speaking to his adult disciples and instructs them: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.

He delivers a warning to them as well: “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come!

But sometimes, we disciples are quick-to-speak and slow-to-listen, 😥because we read in Matthew 19:13-15, Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them.  Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.

Believers, do you remember how much God loves His children? (Here’s a reminder. 💖)

Do you think that YOUR AGE disqualifies you?  That is a lie.  Jesus was speaking to adult disciples and telling then to become like children.

Do you think YOUR BEHAVIOR has disqualified you?  That too, is a lie.  Who has convinced you that when Jesus died at the cross for ALL sins, that yours were excluded?

Do you think that YOUR ADULTHOOD requires more from you? That is the biggest lie of all!

If, by His grace, you have been blessed to have your own child, and you discover that feeling of unconditional love, the desire to sacrifice all that you have and all that you are, simply to care for and continually show your love for that child, then you have just gotten a glimpse of the love God has for His creation, His inheritance, His children. Remember John 3:16?

Your success, or more likely, your failure to ‘achieve’ in that endeavor, i.e. our inability to be a perfect parent – does not diminish His love at all. We should never buy into the deception of redefining God’s love based on our earthly experience of love. If you believe YOUR adulthood means that YOU have to keep trying to do better, then it is YOU who is sabotaging your own desire to love your children… your spouse… your friends, etc. 

YOU cannot do this on your own; you were never meant to.

In the 2nd chapter of Genesis, we read about God’s intention for humanity, before sin had entered the lives of man.

Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground,but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden;but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

Time is such a distraction. We go from ‘Now’ in Genesis 2, to the fall of man in Genesis 3, and ‘time’ begins.  We are each given a fixed amount of time to return to God – in devotion, in obedience, and in humility. God promises a savior, from the seed of the woman, in chapter 3 and renews that promise throughout Scripture.  Christians are called Christians, because they see the fulfillment of that promise in Jesus Christ.  And Jesus calls each of us to return to Him – to again embrace a new identity, ‘Child of God’.

Time has an ending as do all the things in history. In Revelation 21, we read: Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away…

And, He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!”

“It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children.

The Word of God is not some spiritual rocket-science that can only be understood by those with advanced theology degrees; you do not need to study Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Latin. The Word of God is written for His children! 

We are not Children of God until we turn away from our pride, our ideas of right and wrong, and humbly return to God for His wisdom and His guidance.  We should be submitting to Him, and trusting Him to transform us. As long as we keep resisting and struggling to get our own way, we are blocking the love and growth from the author of life! 

We are called to be His children; we are not called to be childish. One will, in humble obedience, mature in Christ; the other will languish in self-willed temper tantrums.  One will experience the peace that passes all understanding; one will be lost to the anger that emerges when they don’t get their own way. Or, as John Bunyan illustrates, one is patient and self-controlled; the other is a slave to their passion.