Devotional for Thursday, April 12, 2018
“Become Like Children!”
by Dona Hake
“At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a little child and set him before them, and said, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, unless you repent [that is, change your inner self—your old way of thinking, live changed lives] and become like children [trusting, humble, and forgiving], you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever [a]humbles himself like this child is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 18:1-4 Amplified Version
We should all desire to grow strong in our faith in the living God but oh that we would embrace remaining as a child in our hearts. A child will simply trust those that they believe in and love. Our Lord instructs us in this scripture that we need to rid of our old way of thinking. Honestly I do not know about you but sometimes some old ways of thinking hang can hang on more than we would ever admit.
May we humbly permit our Lord to continually examine our hearts that they remain pure and acceptable to Him. Jesus also encouraged those around Him to live a life that is changed and that they become like a child that is humble and willing to forgive.
I can remember teaching a group of preschoolers about the Bible verse found in Psalm 89:11 “Everything in heaven and earth belongs to you. You made the world and everything in it.” These little ones sat around me staring into my eyes with great anticipation as they waited to hear the teaching about what these words meant. At one point we talked about how God is just so magnificent! I began to focus on how He made so many sea creatures in the big beautiful sea. One my one the little ones were naming off the great sea creatures that they wanted to talk about. Once again their childlike excitement and joy over this truth stirred my heart, and I can see why Jesus advises us to remain as children. I began to share with them about how God is so great and full of wonderful wisdom, and He knew exactly how to make boundaries around the ocean. I said to them, “How does God make the ocean water only go so far, and then there is land? How does God separate the land from the sea?” Then I asked them, ” What is it that you walk on before you step into the ocean?” All their little hands were up in the air as they shouted, “It’s the sand!“ As they said this immediately my heart was impressed to bring to their hearts another truth,( I will share that one with you tomorrow!)
Today I encourage you to think about how everything in this heaven and earth belongs to your God, He made it and everything in it for us to enjoy and be blessed. Yet this truth should remind us how great our God is and His provision is great, so let us remain as trusting children, believing that He is able to do above and beyond all we dare ask or think in Jesus Name. His greatness should remind us to stay humble and trusting in His ability to take care of us.