Come As a Child
Reading: Matthew 18:1-5
“Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
The poet, Elizabeth Allen, has written these lines:
“Backward, turn backward, O time, in your flight,
Make me a child again just for tonight!”
Our Scripture does not suggest that we become children again so our mothers can rock us to sleep. Neither does it suggest that we become childish. Jesus said we must have child-like faith.
This passage finds Jesus and his disciples in his favorite location, the out-of-doors. Here he was surrounded by twelve men of differing ages and occupations. In their ordinary lives, they had few expectations of greatness. Now they had begun to see it as a possibility, and they had been arguing. Jesus, the best teacher who ever lived, used one of his favorite methods, a lesson from life. He called a little child, probably playing nearby, to teach these grown men a lesson. Unless you change the direction of your life and the attitudes you have, and make a new beginning, you will not be a part of my kingdom. Just as we cannot begin physical life as adults, we cannot begin the Christian life as mature Christians.
For Reflection: Do I come to Jesus with child-like faith?
A Prayer Seed:
Come as a little child, come with a small of eagerness.
Greet each new day as a special gift of love,
Even if you’re old and gray, though you’ve come a long hard way,
Come ready to sing and play and dance,
Ready to risk and take a chance
For of such is the Kingdom.
Taken from Come as a Child by Richard Avery & Donald Marsh
Copyright 1971 Hope Publishing Co., Carol Stream, IL, 60188
Used by permission.
