Good day dear friends. This has been a very hectic and busy week and I'm a bit behind in my writing for today.
Here is our study guide for today:
Thursday: Please find the most familiar and loved passage about children and Jesus as we find it in Mark 10:13-16. Praise God for the love of Jesus towards children and their lives. Let the verse speak to your heart. Ask the Lord to help you love children more!
Here is that passage from Mark 10:13 People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. 14 But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, "Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. 15 Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it." 16 And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.
Jesus loves children. It was no different during his earthly ministry days. We all know Jesus holds a special place in His heart for all, but especially the children. They're such precious gifts and Jesus realized that. Jesus knew that children are shaped by their parents and in this passage the parents who had heard and seen what Jesus could do, saw in Him something special and powerful and brought their children to Him so that a touch from Him would bring them a blessing. You can only imagine what blessing they were seeking, simply to have a man of God touch them would be blessing enough. Carli, my daughter and I, have started to really enjoy an English show called "Cash in the Attic," an equivalent to Antique Roadshow, but this show presents families with a financial goal and they have this expert go through their attics and other rooms to see if there are any items of value in them. Last night's episode was from Liverpool and the woman whose house was featured had a goal to give her son a nice wedding and to buy herself a nice dress and "big hat" to wear to the wedding. Being Liverpool you can imagine The Beatles treasures she had, including autographs from each of the moptops. She had a framed copy of John Lennon's first book, which she had handed to him to have signed during one of the lunchtime concerts The Beatles would put on at The Cavern. To her dismay, the signature was not John's but one of the road managers. But to those who love The Beatles, contact with them must have been something very special.
Multiply that by a billion and you get the specialness of having contact with Jesus. One of the things I want to find out is what happened to these children during their lives after their blessing by Jesus. I know the Lord forgave the disciples for their protective attitude keeping the children from coming to see Him, but I wonder what will happen to those who still refuse to allow children access to God? I know of several faith stories from this church of those who have, even in spite of having parents with little or no faith, come to full faith in Jesus and now bring their kids with them to worship.
May our desire be to bring as many of God's children to His house as we can. The doors are wide open. What we need are the strong arms and loving hands who will guide and walk with these children to bring them into this house. Will you help?
PRAYER: Loving God, come into my heart and use me to bring more of Your little ones to your house. Let me be a blessing. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
e.v.
