Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
We return to Jesus’ teaching about children in Mark 10:14b-15: “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.’” Thus, Jesus wants not only all children in His eternal “kingdom” but also all adults. His presentation of “a little child” as an example for adults, though, is startling. In general, ancient cultures did not highly value children. The Jewish people were an exception, for they rightly saw children as a gift from God: “Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD” (Psalm 127:3a). However, even they focused on what children would become, not what they were. Thus, Jesus’ words would have been startling to His listeners, including the disciples. He was telling them and us that we need to be helplessly dependent and fully trusting, just as a little one is. That response to Jesus requires humility, certainly not a characteristic found in the Pharisees and scribes, the religious elites of the first century. Of course, Jesus was also stressing that even children need salvation. D. L. Moody once said that there had been 2 ½ conversions at a meeting that he had led. A friend asked, “Two adults and a child?” Moody responded, “No, two children and one adult. The children gave their whole lives. The adult had only half of his left to give.” Each youngster needs “to receive the kingdom of God as a little child,” too. Let us see the eternal value of each child, and let us seek to help each one to come to a saving knowledge of and relationship with Jesus Christ.