Today’s Podcast
Today’s Bible reading plan:
Read it in a year – Hosea 1-7
see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)
Today’s Devotional
Mark 10:14-15
Jesus (to the disciples): Let the children come to Me, and don’t ever stand in their way, for this is what the kingdom of God is all about. Truly anyone who doesn’t accept the kingdom of God as a little child does can never enter it.
What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?
I’m visiting my two year old grandson today. It’s always interesting to watch these little guys as they explore the world around them. He’s fascinated by so many things we just take for granted as old folks. We forget the wonder of the world around us. It’s good to stop and watch the world through the eyes of a two year old again every once in a while.
A few minutes ago a landscaping crew came to the neighborhood to mow several lawns around his house. He loves to watch them. He’s fascinated by the sound, the smells, the way the workers race through the yards with their mowers and neatly cut and trim the yard then finish up by blowing the grass off all the sidewalks. We see it as work. A chore that must be done every other week throughout the summer. He sees it as a minor miracle to watch the grass change shape from that scraggly mess to a beautiful carpet he can play run and play on.
He’s fascinated by trash. I know. It sounds a little weird. He probably gets the weird side from my gene pool. But he likes to find trash because he likes to open the trash can. It has one of those foot pedals that opens the lid when you step on it. He’s just heavy enough to push the pedal down, open the lid, and deposit his find. So far, he’s found trash for the can. My granddaughter like to do the same thing at that age, but with keys, phones, remotes. So we’re happy Gideon likes trash.
Little children teach us a multitude of things when we watch them. They don’t care about the color of other children’s skin. They just play together. They ask each other why one is brown or tan or white, but they play together great. Kids are fascinated by older kids. Just watch a two year old around a crowd of older kids and see where his eyes go. He’ll immediately start watching what the three and four year olds are doing. Kids love to ape their slightly older peers.
Put him down and in just a few minutes he’ll be trying what the older kids were doing. He might not do it well, but he’ll keep trying and eventually, he’ll learn the task. The same thing happens with language, behavior, mannerisms, all sorts of things. Winning and losing doesn’t matter to them when they play together, they just play. It’s the fun of the game that interests kids and they seem to get along.
That is until adults intervene in their playing together. Then the color of skin seems to matter. The rules must be followed. There has to be winners and losers with every game. Someone has to be the best. If you don’t get it right, you’re labeled and either given special help or distracted and encouraged to do something else so you won’t be embarrassed by your failure. We adults really mess kids up sometimes with thinking we know what’s best, you know?
Jesus said some pretty smart things during His short ministry. All of them are really good. This is one of His great one. “Don’t ever stand in the children’s way, for this is what the kingdom of God is all about.”
How much do we stifle our children by trying to mold them into something the world says they should be? How much do we crush their spirit by trying to make them into what we want them to be? I’m not saying we should let our kids just run wild and always do what they want and live carefree without discipline and always do what they want. That would be irresponsible and negligent as a parent. But God made each of us different and we forget that children are inquisitive by nature. We should encourage that curiosity and help them learn and absorb all of the beauty of God’s creation around them.
We should teach them self discipline. We should teach them about God’s love and His will for all humankind. We should help them explore His goodness, grace, and mercy. We should emulate children in their trust and love and acceptance of all people.
Don’t get in the way of the children. The kingdom of God is all about them, their behavior, their curiosity, their innocence, their love and acceptance. Jesus says, get out of their way and instead follow their example. So go find a two year old and learn from him.
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