THINK TOGETHER.
What’s the difference between a child and an adult?
READ TOGETHER.
Luke 18:15-17. 15Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. 16But Jesus called them to him, saying, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. 17Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”
Jesus Loves the Little Children
All the children of the world
Red and yellow, black and white
They are precious in his sight
Jesus loves the little children of the world.
Do you know this song? It’s a very simple song, but also a very true song. Jesus DOES love all the children of the world.
We live in a world that loves babies. We think of babies as precious. We take pictures of our babies, and dress them in cute clothes. We protect babies with car seats, and baby monitors (my car will even tell me if it thinks I left my baby in the back seat, and I don’t even have a baby). But in Jesus day, people didn’t think of babies in this same way. Babies weren’t thought of as precious at all. Babies were considered the lowest in all society, even below slaves. Sadly, back then many babies didn’t live very long, and it was perfectly fine to get rid of your baby.
So when parents started bringing infants to Jesus to be touched, or blessed, it makes sense that the Disciples would try to keep these babies and their parents away from Jesus. They rebuked, or yelled at the parents.
What did Jesus do? He rebuked the Disciples. He said, Let the children come to me. And then he said something very incredible: For to such belongs the kingdom of God.
What does that mean?
It means that the Kingdom of God is made up of the lowest not the highest. Babies are completely needy. They can’t do anything for themselves. They don’t help around the house. They don’t take out the trash or clean their room. They don’t say or do anything helpful. They don’t give, they only receive. And Jesus is saying that’s what we need to be like in order to go to Heaven.
Can you see what Jesus is saying? He’s saying that in order to go to the Kingdom of Heaven, we must be like an infant. We must admit that we can’t save ourselves or do anything good enough to earn God’s love and salvation. We love babies simply because they are babies, not for what they do. And God loves you simply because he loves you, not because of anything good that you have done. Do you believe this?
Because of Jesus we are loved for what we are, not for what we’ve done.
With Jesus we can be like infants that come to Jesus needy and helpless.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Look at baby pictures together (mom and dad’s too). What are babies like? Do they deserve to be loved?
PRAY TOGETHER
Father, thank you for loving me even though I don’t deserve it. Amen.
TLICfamily 