Jesus loves the little children! The gospels record Jesus’ ministry as being surrounded by kids. He used the fish and bread of a young boy to feed thousands and He gave priority to children when kids ran up and interrupted Him. In fact, it was then that He used children as the very picture of how we should approach God and the work of telling others about His love for them.
Jesus said that we cannot enter heaven, enter God’s presence, unless we are like children. What does that mean? See, children are helpless…they are humble, unable to support themselves, and they blindly depend on those greater than them to support them. Children approach life without preconceived ideas or corrupted perceptions. We are to approach God in the same way. We need to recognize our inability to struggle with sin, to do it on our own, and trust in God’s Grace plan of redemption that solely rests on Him.
There’s also another lesson as Jesus made the children top priority, Jesus also showed an example of reaching down to those in need, those who are helpless and who we can lift up in their time of need.
So, there are two things we learn from Jesus’ interaction with children. First, that in order to experience God’s work in our life fully, we need to approach Him with humility and complete trust…sitting back and resting in His ability to reach down and care for us. If we can’t sit back and rest in Him, it will be impossible for us to experience God’s victory through grace. Second, we need to follow Jesus’ example of helping those who cannot help themselves. Jesus made it His priority to reach those who needed Him the most.
Children are a priority to God…sometimes we muddy that all up with big-people talk and thoughts. Think more like a child…experience life God’s way!
