Today’s Podcast
Today’s Bible reading plan:
Read it in a year – 2 Corinthians 4-5
see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)
Today’s Devotional
Matthew 19:14
Jesus: Let the little children come to Me; do not get in their way. For the kingdom of heaven belongs to children like these.
What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?
A few days ago I talked about the characteristics of children that we should observe and emulate. The things that Jesus saw in them that make them ripe for the kingdom of heaven. Characteristics like happy, trustworthy, inquisitive, and knowing where to go when they are hurt. Jesus saw in the children around Him the innocence God wants to see in us but we seem to run away from far too quickly.
Let’s go back and look at the scene and see what we learn from it. Some parents wanted Jesus to bless their children. So they began to push through the crowd with holding on to their toddlers’ hands or tightly holding their precious bundles in their arms. But as Jesus’ disciples, those wanting to be like Him remember, saw these parents dragging their kids toward Him, they assumed He wouldn’t want to be bothered a bunch of little rug rats that throw up on your shoulder and ask a thousand questions and run around your feet wanting to play, never listening to what you have to say (or so it seems).
Things haven’t changed much in society today. Take a look around the world and see what happens with children in almost every society. Children and the elderly are the throw-aways of society. In poverty stricken areas, it is the children who starve. In areas rampant with disease, it is the children who die in droves. In areas with the most evil crimes, children become the target of kidnapping and sex slavery.
Societies at large have little regard for children and the elderly. But Jesus turns the tables on His disciples who, like many around them, want to push them aside and pretend they just don’t exist. They are the ones who die of starvation in famine raked countries. They are the ones denied scarce medicines in disease ridden sections. They are the ones left on doorsteps or locked in homes to fend for themselves while those who should be caregivers selfishly go party.
Because children and the elderly are non-productive members of our societies, we push them to the curb and forget about them when things get tough. We often talk a good game and tell ourselves we have great programs to help. But when it really comes down to it, thousands of kids, even in our country are left alone, left in the cold, forgotten because they are just kids. They are the invisible human beings of our society.
But not to Jesus. He says, “Let them come to Me.” Jesus wants the children by His side. He knows that they make up the kingdom of heaven. Jesus know s that unless we become like them, our character keeps us from reaching the promised land just like the adults that left Egypt never made it to the promised land. Those grown-ups couldn’t get past their old ways and old beliefs and died in the wilderness.
Jesus says even more about children, though. He says, “Don’t even get in their way!” Don’t become a stumbling block to them. Don’t put obstacles in their path that would keep them from reaching Him. Don’t do anything that would hinder them from finding and coming to Him. In other places, He says it would be better to have a millstone put around your neck and be thrown into the sea than to cause one of these little one to lose their way to heaven.
Do you think Jesus cares about children? There is no doubt in my mind He does. When He talks the way He did to His disciples and the crowd around Him, I know they held a special place in His heart. In fact, I think His wish is that all of us would emulate them. He wants us to understand how important they are. He wants us to care for them and love them as much as He does. He wants us to realize they are not disposable, but rather they are vital to our future. When we treat them as insignificant, disposable pieces of our society, we are in danger of destroying ourselves from within. Children are not our future, they are our present. The way we treat our children reflects our love of God and our love of each other because as Jesus said, “Such as these make up the kingdom of heaven.”
Don’t be one of those that push the children away. Remember they make up the kingdom of heaven. Learn from them. Be like them. Teach them God’s way. Children are loved by God. Be careful how you treat His loved ones.
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