Megan Evans, Women’s Ministry Director, LHBC
Luke 18:17
“Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”
Children have precious ways of saying things, and we can learn a lot from a child. Jesus loved children, and he encouraged us to be like them in many ways. He said our faith should be like that of a child.
There are cherished phrases my children have spoken that I will always hold dear. When my first-born daughter was learning to speak, she would hold her arms out and say “hold you” when she wanted me to pick her up. While I knew she really meant to say “hold me,” it delighted my mother’s heart. Each time I would swing her up onto my hip, her little hands and feet would cling tightly to my side. I often thought she was just repeating the words I had offered many times in love and in comfort, and then one day a few more words were uttered. The sentence was finally complete. “Mama, I want to hold you.” My child had learned what it meant to be held. She didn’t just want me to hold her, my precious child wanted to hold me back.
Children are so loving and that is the kind of simple and trusting love God desires of our heart too—that we would trust and believe. Children remind us to depend on God fully and to run to Him with our needs and wants, but also to simply enjoy His presence.
In Luke 18 a group of parents brought their children to Jesus desiring his blessing over them. Thinking they were a bother, the disciples shooed them away, but Jesus welcomed them. “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” (Luke 18:16-17)
Jesus loved the children and that includes you and me. Today is the day to depend on him fully. With simple joy, and awe and wonder, will you run to his side? Will you trust the Lord to provide and care for you? Will you delight in his love and presence? Will you learn what it means to be held by God?
It is hard to be a grown-up and sometimes (all the time) we just need the Lord to hold us. We make life so hard and then try to figure all of the hard things out on our own. Like a child, we do not have to understand all of the mysteries of God in order to fully place our faith in Him. We will never fully comprehend His greatness, nor all of His ways. But with childlike faith we can choose to believe who God says He is and that He does what He says. Behold and be held today.
Let Jesus meet you right where you are today, and love him back with a childlike faith.
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Father God, thank you for the simplicity of the gospel. Thank you that there is nothing mighty, important, or intelligent that I must figure out or accomplish before surrendering my heart to you Lord. I love you. Show me how to love you daily as a child…your child. In Jesus Name, Amen.