Matthew 19:14 “Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
What did Jesus mean by ‘little children?’ Does The Lord mean that only little children will be allowed in The Kingdom of God? God forbid. In this story, the Lord Jesus is using the image of children to symbolize the humbled spirit who puts their complete trust on The Lord. Although children in the physical world are completely helpless, they depend completely on adults to take care of them. They know they cannot find food and provisions on their own, they know they cannot find the way to go home on their own; they know they can do nothing on their own! Whereas the opposite attitude towards the Lord were exhibited by the Pharisees who, because of their pride and self-righteousness, thought that they are better than The Lord Jesus Christ. These are the people who angered Jesus Christ the most; they believe they are so great and so good by their own efforts that they didn’t believe in Jesus Christ.
“I will never turn away anyone who comes to Me” – Jesus Christ (John 6:37)
So who were these people in the Bible who were child-like towards The Lord? Let me give you some few examples just from Matthew 9 alone: 1. The Paralytic on a mat, 2. The Bleeding Woman, 3. The Ruler with the dead daughter, 4. The Blind Men, and 5. The Demon Possessed Man. Read Matthew 9 and see how all the people were able to draw from Jesus Christ. Clearly, they belonged to The Kingdom of God. It was their child-like faith and their child-like trust on Jesus that made them fall on their knees and cry: “JESUS, HELP ME!” We all know what happened next: ALL OF THEM WERE HEALED.
Don’t end up like the proud Pharisees who ended up with nothing when everyone around were drawing heavenly blessings from The Lord Jesus. Let us bring back the child-like faith and run to Jesus Christ!
* Image taken from Google Images