Daily Devotional for Tuesday, October 17

Jesus and Some Little Children

“And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them,” Mark 10:13-16.

Grace took her four-year-old granddaughter to “big church” for the first time. She sat quietly taking in every aspect of the service and her attentive curiosity stayed in check until the pastoral prayer. The pastor said, “We thank You, Lord, for Your presence.” The little girl’s eyes flew open and she whispered to her grandmother, “Granny, we’re gonna get presents!”

A church without young children is probably a dying church. But sometimes ministering to children can test the patience of adults. I imagine the disciples’ patience was tested as children were brought to Jesus. I suppose they thought Jesus had more important things to do than be hassled with children. After all, they do not always behave like us adults.

Jesus quickly shushed the disciples as they hurried to remove the children from His presence. Apparently, Jesus had no more important task to accomplish than to spend time with a gaggle of youngsters. Driving home His pivotal kingdom point, Jesus said we adults should fashion our faith to be more like those precious children. You see, children possess a simple faith and offer unbiased affection to those around them. Adults would do well to be more childlike.

FINAL THOUGHT: How is your faith? Do you trust like a child and offer love and relationship without bias? We should be more like children.

Steven Ridings