by Prince Josiah Jeyaraj
We find in the scriptures the disciples were discussing and arguing as they were walking down the roadside, who is the greatest in the kingdom of God? May be all disciples were claiming to be the greatest. John must have said, I am close to the heart of Jesus, Peter might have said, I am the first one of called disciples, Luke might have thought I am the most educated, Judas might have said I am the chief accountant, so I am the greatest. I believe every disciples must have justified their stand and put themselves on the higher ground.
(Above passage is described in Matthew 18: 1- 4, Mark 9:33- 37 & Luke 9:46- 48)
Jesus listening to all that was going around, it is more clearly said in the gospel of Mark and Luke that it was an argument between them, at the moment Jesus should have seen some children playing around and he simply called out a child, we don’t know the background of the child, but for sure the child was not a believer, in fact he carried the child in His arms and said you need to be like this little child to enter the kingdom. It is amazing to see Jesus talking about the entry pass when the disciples were fighting for the biggest position.
You and I are grown up people who have to bend so low to be like a little child to get an entry pass into God’s kingdom, but the little children have a place already in the kingdom of God. What an awesome thing to ponder.
Jesus goes onto say, its much clear in Matthew 18:4 “Therefore, anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.” That means Jesus is telling that children are greatest in the kingdom of God. Jesus could have said, he who walks blameless is the greatest or God’s workers are the greatest or I am the greatest, etc.
What does that mean to us, you and I are called to serve the greatest ones i.e. the little kids. It is God given opportunity for few people to serve the greatest ones. I was simply amazed on seeing the verse. I am not serving the poor and needy, I am not serving the kids of my country, I am not serving my Sunday school or church, I am not serving the village kids that come for Sunday class, but I am serving the greatest ones in the kingdom. What a privilege! Be encouraged! You and I are serving the greatest ones in kingdom of God.
Every kingdom has a king to rule, few serve the king with food, few serve with ideas to govern the country, few serve the king to clothe him and few are assigned with some special duties, in the same way God has given us the responsibility to serve the children with food, serve them with school education and moral values to govern their lives. Only few are chosen to be in the kingdom to serve. You and I are few among them to serve in the greatest ones in the kingdom.
In the same passage Jesus goes on to say that if we invite these kids it’s like welcoming Him (God). What a privilege to serve this little ones? Hey did you realize you are inviting Jesus by inviting these kids?
When God bestows a huge responsibility to us to deal with children, we need to be with utmost care, since we are not serving some little folks, but serving the multitudes that are already of the kingdom. In Matthew 18:6, Mark 9:42, Luke 17:2 “But if anyone causes one of these little ones who trusts in me to lose faith, it would be better for that person to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around the neck.” We find the same verse repeated in all the gospels. It shows that there is strong emphasis for all who deal with children. When I went through the verse I asked myself why should God be very strong with people who especially deal with kids. God has a strong expectation from us when we deal with children.
Children don’t know to discern right and wrong. They just follow their leaders. Let me bring out an illustration to explain this. Two of children playing slide (i.e. climb through the steps and come down sliding) together, the eldest, was 4 years old and the youngest was 2 years old. The Eldest went up through the steps and came sliding down, she went about doing the same for 2,3,4 or 5 times or so. The Youngest was watching what eldest was doing; soon followed the steps of eldest one. The Eldest after a while started going through the reverse. (i.e. Wrong direction Climbing). The Younger one followed the same way.
Let us come back to ourselves, if we are going to mislead them, then Jesus says its better that we die than misleading.
Proverbs 19:18 says “Discipline your children while there is hope. If you don’t, you will ruin their lives.” If we fail to discipline our children when God gives us an opportunity, then we will be responsible for the destruction of their lives and also we are disobeying God’s commandment. It’s a warning for us who serve children. The blame is on us who deal with children and not on the children.
Proverbs 12:7 says, “The wicked perish and are gone, but the children of the godly stand firm.” This verse seems interesting. The verse starts talking about the wicked and at the end talks on the children of the godly rather than the godly. If I would have written the proverb, I would have written like wise, “The wicked perish and are gone, but the godly stand firm” I think it is very natural to write like this. But it says children of the godly stand firm. If you and I are godly then our children will stand firm. Again the children’s future or their life depends upon us. i.e. our Godliness
Proverbs 13:24 says “If you refuse to discipline your children, it proves you don’t love them; if you love your children, you will be prompt to discipline them.” A question all of us should ask ourselves. Are we dealing with children, because it a responsibility bestowed by somebody or is it out of Love? The proverbs clearly say’s we need to do it out of love. Many times we do feel frustrated when children misbehave. We try correcting once, twice, thrice and finally we say, hey what the hell are you doing, don’t you understand and finally we condemn the child. Am I dealing with Love or because of responsibility?
When we look at the above few verses the child’s life totally depends on us rather than any other thing.
I want to close with a verse taken from Proverbs 22:6, which says, “Teach your children to choose the right path, and when they are older, they will remain upon it.” This proverb clearly tells that when we teach the children the right things in their Childhood days, it will help them to make right choices then when they grow up, they will remain upon the teaching, it does not say they may remain or they can or some can, but it clearly say they will remain upon the teaching. If you and I teach the right things then when the children grow up they will abide by the teaching.
We find in the scriptures the disciples were discussing and arguing as they were walking down the roadside, who is the greatest in the kingdom of God? May be all disciples were claiming to be the greatest. John must have said, I am close to the heart of Jesus, Peter might have said, I am the first one of called disciples, Luke might have thought I am the most educated, Judas might have said I am the chief accountant, so I am the greatest. I believe every disciples must have justified their stand and put themselves on the higher ground.
(Above passage is described in Matthew 18: 1- 4, Mark 9:33- 37 & Luke 9:46- 48)
Jesus listening to all that was going around, it is more clearly said in the gospel of Mark and Luke that it was an argument between them, at the moment Jesus should have seen some children playing around and he simply called out a child, we don’t know the background of the child, but for sure the child was not a believer, in fact he carried the child in His arms and said you need to be like this little child to enter the kingdom. It is amazing to see Jesus talking about the entry pass when the disciples were fighting for the biggest position.
You and I are grown up people who have to bend so low to be like a little child to get an entry pass into God’s kingdom, but the little children have a place already in the kingdom of God. What an awesome thing to ponder.
Jesus goes onto say, its much clear in Matthew 18:4 “Therefore, anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.” That means Jesus is telling that children are greatest in the kingdom of God. Jesus could have said, he who walks blameless is the greatest or God’s workers are the greatest or I am the greatest, etc.
What does that mean to us, you and I are called to serve the greatest ones i.e. the little kids. It is God given opportunity for few people to serve the greatest ones. I was simply amazed on seeing the verse. I am not serving the poor and needy, I am not serving the kids of my country, I am not serving my Sunday school or church, I am not serving the village kids that come for Sunday class, but I am serving the greatest ones in the kingdom. What a privilege! Be encouraged! You and I are serving the greatest ones in kingdom of God.
Every kingdom has a king to rule, few serve the king with food, few serve with ideas to govern the country, few serve the king to clothe him and few are assigned with some special duties, in the same way God has given us the responsibility to serve the children with food, serve them with school education and moral values to govern their lives. Only few are chosen to be in the kingdom to serve. You and I are few among them to serve in the greatest ones in the kingdom.
In the same passage Jesus goes on to say that if we invite these kids it’s like welcoming Him (God). What a privilege to serve this little ones? Hey did you realize you are inviting Jesus by inviting these kids?
When God bestows a huge responsibility to us to deal with children, we need to be with utmost care, since we are not serving some little folks, but serving the multitudes that are already of the kingdom. In Matthew 18:6, Mark 9:42, Luke 17:2 “But if anyone causes one of these little ones who trusts in me to lose faith, it would be better for that person to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around the neck.” We find the same verse repeated in all the gospels. It shows that there is strong emphasis for all who deal with children. When I went through the verse I asked myself why should God be very strong with people who especially deal with kids. God has a strong expectation from us when we deal with children.
Children don’t know to discern right and wrong. They just follow their leaders. Let me bring out an illustration to explain this. Two of children playing slide (i.e. climb through the steps and come down sliding) together, the eldest, was 4 years old and the youngest was 2 years old. The Eldest went up through the steps and came sliding down, she went about doing the same for 2,3,4 or 5 times or so. The Youngest was watching what eldest was doing; soon followed the steps of eldest one. The Eldest after a while started going through the reverse. (i.e. Wrong direction Climbing). The Younger one followed the same way.
Let us come back to ourselves, if we are going to mislead them, then Jesus says its better that we die than misleading.
Proverbs 19:18 says “Discipline your children while there is hope. If you don’t, you will ruin their lives.” If we fail to discipline our children when God gives us an opportunity, then we will be responsible for the destruction of their lives and also we are disobeying God’s commandment. It’s a warning for us who serve children. The blame is on us who deal with children and not on the children.
Proverbs 12:7 says, “The wicked perish and are gone, but the children of the godly stand firm.” This verse seems interesting. The verse starts talking about the wicked and at the end talks on the children of the godly rather than the godly. If I would have written the proverb, I would have written like wise, “The wicked perish and are gone, but the godly stand firm” I think it is very natural to write like this. But it says children of the godly stand firm. If you and I are godly then our children will stand firm. Again the children’s future or their life depends upon us. i.e. our Godliness
Proverbs 13:24 says “If you refuse to discipline your children, it proves you don’t love them; if you love your children, you will be prompt to discipline them.” A question all of us should ask ourselves. Are we dealing with children, because it a responsibility bestowed by somebody or is it out of Love? The proverbs clearly say’s we need to do it out of love. Many times we do feel frustrated when children misbehave. We try correcting once, twice, thrice and finally we say, hey what the hell are you doing, don’t you understand and finally we condemn the child. Am I dealing with Love or because of responsibility?
When we look at the above few verses the child’s life totally depends on us rather than any other thing.
I want to close with a verse taken from Proverbs 22:6, which says, “Teach your children to choose the right path, and when they are older, they will remain upon it.” This proverb clearly tells that when we teach the children the right things in their Childhood days, it will help them to make right choices then when they grow up, they will remain upon the teaching, it does not say they may remain or they can or some can, but it clearly say they will remain upon the teaching. If you and I teach the right things then when the children grow up they will abide by the teaching.
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