14But 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. 15Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. 16And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them.
The funfair, merriment, jubilation of the children’s day is eroding the essence of bringing children together for spiritual enlightenment.
Jesus had to caution the disciples who were carried away in the euphoria of Christ's answers to the question about marriage, in His displeasure, he warned them that they should “…Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.”
Jesus wanted children to come for the essence of the kingdom of God because they can easily understand the gospel of the kingdom, they can easily be convinced, convicted and be converted to be part of the kingdom of God. (Matthew 18:3)
Our focus anytime we gather children or celebrate children should be the leading of the children to Christ. As disciples today we should seek means of leading children to Christ so that they can become part of the kingdom of God since Jesus said, “…for of such is the kingdom of God.”
Joseph, Samuel, David, Daniel, Timothy were all children that knew God early in life and that made them very useful in the Kingdom of God. Their ministries speak much about the importance of getting children to Christ for salvation or born again early in life because, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God”, (John 3:3) not to talk of being part of the kingdom of God.
- Bringing Children to Christ through Salvation
- Biblical Comparison of Children to those who can be Save
- Blessings for Children who Comes to the Saviour
1. Bringing Children to Christ through Salvation
“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.” (Mark 10:14)
Salvation has been misplaced by many to mean religion. Everyone is born to one religion or the other but salvation takes one from religion to righteousness. Making children to keep practicing religion will make them to play religion as a childish thing and when they eventually get old they will throw it away and begin to live anyhow. (1 Corinthians 13:11). That is the reason why many children grow and they are no longer interested in their parents’ life of piety, some even refuse going to church to become a free thinker. Some Pastor’s children takes to crime and soil their father’s name.
While they are young, we must learn every means, not just by books but by scriptures, to make them understand salvation. We must spend for their salvation than for their pleasure. We must bring them face to face with Christ through supplication and faith like Timothy’s mother and grandmother did for him. (2 Timothy 1:5, 3:15)
We are losing the children because we tell them more stories than the scriptures which is able to make them wise unto salvation, we engage them more in physical activities than in spiritual exercises, we spend more on their education, social life, fun etc. than we spend on their salvation.
As simple as salvation is we must repeat it over and over as the children grows so that they can “waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God…”. (Luke 1:80, 2:40). Salvation should be a daily affair in their life.
As the world celebrates the children’s day, we should do everything we do to remind the children that salvation is paramount, central and most essential “For bodily exercise profiteth little:...”. (1 Timothy 4:8). Jesus emphasis on “…except you repent…” (Luke 13:3,5) should be central in all messages to children at home, in church or anywhere we have opportunity to bring children together from henceforth while other physical activities should be secondary.
2. Biblical Comparison of Children with those who will be Save
“Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.” (Mark 10:15)
Often, celebrations makes us miss important lessons in life. When people are in church, they sometimes forget why they are in church because of ecstasy of the jubilation during singing or some good motivations during preaching. Jesus answer to the question on marriage has brought some into positive excitement “…for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes.” (Mark 1:22) and other into repulsive indictment on Christ “…that they might accuse Him”. (Mark 3:2).
Jesus lessons on the little children was not missed out by Jesus because every details of Jesus message has an application. He said anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God as a little child cannot enter into the kingdom of God implying that anyone who will enter the kingdom of God must be as little children. Not receiving it childishly but receiving it with sincere repentance, open heart and willingness to follow the Lord.
Children are at advantage since every other person have to become like little children, therefore we must help children to get converted at the early age to be part of God’s kingdom through their lifetime. So that at conversion they have less restitutions to make, less scars of sin in their life, less harm to the society etc.
3. Blessing for Children who come to the Saviour
“And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them.” (Mark 10:16)
Many children grows up feeling they are losers because they belong to God’s kingdom. They see those who cheat in exam succeeding, those who steal becoming someone in life, those who live in sin scaling through all the life hurdles without resistance but didn’t realize that God’s blessings is beyond the ephemeral things we see here and “Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.” (Ecclesiastes 7:8). In God’s kingdom, patience is a virtue which every child of God must possess. We must like the Psalmist, “…wait, I say, on the Lord”. (Psalm 27:14)
Jesus took the children in His arms. Our love to children must draw them to salvation not to perdition by being so hard on them or using them to satisfy our emotions through play, immoral talk, touch and look like the Ammonites who use their children to worship 'Molech' for their personal gratifications. (1 Kings 11:7. Leviticus 20:1-5).
Jesus put His hands upon them, not indiscriminately or inappropriately, and bless them. As we gather the children to Jesus we should be mindful how we talk to them, how we touch them because children too have feelings, and what we do with them so that the blessing of salvation can be upon them.