Be like a Child!

(Mark 10:14) “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them...”

This morning I would like to explore my thoughts from a different angle, instead of dealing with the obvious, that which can be clearly seen from the text; i.e. the subject here is the children and the instruction is let them come with an emphasis placed on, not to hinder them from coming. Let us look a little deeper today and consider the reason for the disciples wanting to stop parents from bringing their children to the Lord.

Firstly they must have considered the Lord and therefore felt that they were acting in His best interest. They should have understood His heart in the matter; they had walked, talked and slept under the stars with Him. They saw how He went about his daily routine and witnessed his objectives. They obviously wanted to please Him! Except Judas of course, he was in it for his “own bellies sake”, but I do not wish to highlight his wicked exploits, let us rather consider the other eleven disciples and their willingness to want to please their Master. Everything about them was to please Him, sure they made many mistakes along the way, I am sure we can all relate to disappointing our Master, I know I can recount disappointments in my life. So many bad choices! All those bad decisions would fall under the category of wilful disobedience. But over time and in this blog much has been said on that, let us rather consider our actions when we thought that we were acting in God’s best interest, but we weren’t, just as the disciples thought in this account!

The disciples discouraged the parents from bringing their children to Christ; “They rebuked them that brought them”; it was as if they had been sure of their Master's mind in this matter, however He had lately warned them not to despise the little ones. Note:- He was unhappy that his disciples should keep them at bay; When He saw it, it was unpleasing to His eye, Mar_10:14. The question He poses to them is this; will you hinder me from doing what is good, from doing excellence to the rising generation, to the lambs of the flock? Christ is angry with his own disciples, He corrects their judgment and then overrules them and orders that they should be brought to Him, and nothing should be said or done to hinder them from coming; In fact He even makes reference to them as fitting, as those who belong in the kingdom of heaven, “for of such is the kingdom of God” and “suffer little children”, as soon as they are capable, to come to me, to offer up their supplications to me, and to receive instructions from me. Many of them if not all had come from the seed of Abraham. He owned them as members of his church, as they had been of the Jewish church. If we consider the Lord’s objective here on earth, did He not come to set up the kingdom of God among men? He came to live as a man without sin and then to die upon a cross and pay the price for sinners. His sole purpose was to do the will of His Father and that was to make a way for sinners, those who were once enemies of the cross, would eventually become allies of the cross, through repentance and the finding forgiveness in His finished work. They had not stopped to consider what David had penned in the book of Psalms 8:2 and what He later teaches in Matthew; “and they said to him, "Do you hear what these are saying?" And Jesus said to them, "Yes; have you never read, "'Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise'?" (Matthew 21:16)

Have you ever witnessed the simple wisdom that comes out of a child’s mouth when they are aware of who God and Christ is, I have! It is like sweet water and it revitalises the soul, it is beautiful to the ear. The simplicity in their reasoning can often be like a breath of fresh air after been bogged down in a stale unventilated room. “At that time Jesus answered and said,“I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.” (Matthew 11:25)

With that said, let’s now draw a parallel to our salvation experience. Let us go back in time and let us remember how sweet and uncomplicated life seemed to be. All we wanted to do was feast on God’s Word; the Apostle Peter encouraged us to bask in God’s Word: “Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.” (1Peter 2:1)

Note:- when have you ever seen a newborn baby with traits of guile, malice, envies or evil speaking? A child as he grows may develop these traits but never a baby, which is the point!

In conclusion, we may often think we are doing the right thing in the eyes of God just like the disciples thought, but we may be miles off from acting in His best interest.

Father I plead with you this morning, be ever so merciful and teach us to be like little children in malice but mature in understanding; I pray this for all your children wherever they may find themselves through the world. If we have erred, help us to hunger once again to be like little children, sitting as it were on the knee of Jesus our Saviour, Lord and King and may we be ever so pleasing in your sight.

Signing off

Tyrone