THE STORY OF JESUS: Matthew 19:13-15
“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them.” (Matthew 19:14)
I have a huge soft spot in my heart for kids.
In a family gathering, I will often want to spend time playing with the little ones.
Often the world with them seems so simple, and they know how to have fun.
I don’t feel pressure from them, I almost feel like a kid again.
As adults we make life so complicated, and we try to make it hard for kids too.
They start with simple wonder and joy, but when we’re done with them, their burdened like us.
Do we as adults hinder kids from the kingdom, do we make it hard for them to believe and enjoy God?
When I think of children’s childish behavior, and adult’s childish behavior, I’d rather be with kids.
I’m fairly certain, life in God’s creation will be a lot like a child playing in a park.
Our churches are usually designed with adults in mind – we put kids in ‘babysit’ or ‘Sunday School’.
But maybe we need to ‘grow down’ (not up) for a while, and learn about life from the kids.
Sadly, our church has very few kids… which makes me wonder if we are hindering them somehow.
Or worse, not really interested in them, too busy with our ‘adult’ behaviors.
Given how Jesus feels about kids, shouldn’t we make them our top priority as a church?
What do you sense the Lord saying to you?
PRAYER
Lord, give us a heart for the little ones, and help us to learn from them. Help us to see that they are much closer to the creation ideal than we are with our adult ways.