"Let the children come to me..." Matthew 19:13-14

It is one of those scenes where the disciples were noticing that Jesus was being inundated with children, it was only them trying to be concerned about Jesus’ priorities, and the practical aspect of so many children who were keeping Jesus from teaching.  I am glad that Jesus corrected His disciples to remind them that the Kingdom of God belongs to Children much like these.

It has been a long journey for me coming back full circle to my first love, to a relationship that I started with Jesus when I was twelve years old with my savior who embraced me like a Father and spoke affirming words of love and acceptance to me when I needed it most.  He became a father to me when my natural father was absent.  It is that awareness I have come back to once again that Jesus is the true representation of the Heavenly Father in human form.

It is the trust and belief of a child that Jesus desires from us, not the logic and reason that we have come to develop as a means of figuring out God with our minds, the truth is His ways are past finding out.

"Yes, God's riches are very great!  His wisdom and knowledge have no end!  No one can explain what God decides.  No one can understand His ways."  Romans 11:33 (ERV)

I have come to rest once again in the arms of my loving Heavenly Father and place my full confidence and attention in Him.  

I just love the fact that Jesus is so welcoming and warm when it comes to receiving us like children, it goes beyond this natural world and parallels what a true Father looks like, that is what our Heavenly Father looks like who embraces us as a true Father would.

I find it amazing that Jesus had to tell His disciples to “Let the children come to me (Him)” they were trying to turn them away from Jesus.  I wonder why?  Could it have been practical reasons or just a cultural norm?  

Didn’t the disciples realize that they too came to Jesus with the belief of a child? 

Don’t we face that same response today as some people have become so focused about knowing about the details of Jesus, that when it comes to encounter Him in a deeply personal way that there is no room in a public setting for that childlike love for Jesus to be expressed, we become embarrassed or uncomfortable because that type of display of affection it is out of our comfort zone.

Jesus loves it when we come to Him without limitations, I have had the best conversations with Jesus when I have dropped the pretense of my expected response and talk to Him with what I call "crazy love talk".  This is an extemporaneous way of communication I have developed with Jesus which expresses my heart and feelings to Him in a personal and intimate way.  In some ways, it is like talking to a lover saying sweet nothings, which are in fact really somethings.  It is in those moments of expression that I sense the closeness of His presence and His pleasure.  In other ways, it is also like speaking in other tongues which too can be somewhat childlike in its expression.

Becoming childlike in our expression of love to Jesus can get messy and unordered, just like when children attempt to express themselves to grown-ups, their response is never always the same and can sometimes be unexpected.  

That is the beauty of the Lord’s love, He always looks for real expressions of the heart no matter what they are whether sad, angry, or joyful.  He always embraces us and never turns us away because of our feelings toward Him.

That is where the Father’s love reaches out to us, in our childlikeness, and our messiness. He embraces us with His love which is unconditional and affirms us with words of comfort.

"Think how much the Father loves us. He loves us so much that he lets us be called his children, as we truly are."  1 John 3:1a (CEV)

"People who are like these children belong to God's kingdom"

Be Blessed;

Stephen Barnett