pramsay posted on March 09, 2010 17:03 2080 views

Bible Bites

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Children: An Annoying Distraction?

The scowl. The raised eyebrows. The wrinkled forehead. The squirmed up nose and the curled lip. The look of total impatience, severe annoyance and intense distain.

“Here they go again. When will parents ever learn! The Master is so busy and there are so many others who really do need to see Him. Parents should know better than to waste His valuable time with their little kids. The time has come for us to put our foot down. I am going over to that group of parents to tell them.”

“You folks are wasting the Master’s time by bringing your little ones to Him. Please take your kids and go home. Don’t make a nuisance of yourselves any longer. Common sense should tell you the Master is far too busy for them!”

“Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them.

And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them.

But Jesus called them to him, saying,

“Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.

Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

(Luke 18:15-17)

Fathers and mothers you are not wasting your time bringing your infants and young children to places where they will hear about Jesus. Nannies – you are not wasting your time teaching the children you work with how to sing “Jesus Loves Me”. If you have a babysitting job on the side to raise some cash, tell the kids about Jesus. If you are a kindergarten teacher or a primary school teacher and you have the liberty to share tidbits about Christ – it’s not a waste of time! If a school allows you to have a weekly Bible class – go for it. If you are a school bus driver, don’t be afraid to give each of the kids a Christmas or Easter card with something about Jesus on the card – unless you are forbidden to do that.

Perhaps you think telling Bible stories and singing songs with the children is not a very important work. The more glamorous activity would be to stand behind a pulpit and preach a sermon. That’s when the belt gets on the big wheel. Working with kids is small potatoes as the saying goes. That thinking comes from our proud, wicked flesh in its relentless pursuit for prominence, importance and recognition.

No sooner had the disciples shooed the parents away when the Master reversed their actions by calling them to Himself. ‘Come here. Do not hinder these little ones from coming to Me.’ Mark 10:14 tells us the disciples’ stern words pained Jesus deeply.  Mark tells us, He picked up the little ones in His loving arms and blessed them. What a scene!

Paul wrote to Timothy and reminded him: ‘You have been exposed to the Bible before you were an adult; before you were a teenager; before you were in elementary school. From the crib, the stories of the Bible have been poured into your ears.” (2Timothy 3:15)

The little ones you see in the strollers in shopping centers, on the backs of parents at the grocery stores or in the little seats on the back of their father’s bike – ninety five percent of them will grow up never hearing about David and Goliath, Noah and the Ark, Jesus Feeding the 1000’s, and never learning “Jesus Loves Me’. That’s the godless and secular society in which little children are now living.

Think of the investments for eternity if every single person reading this Bible Bite renewed their focus on children’s work and in 2010 put 110% effort into working with ‘little ones’.

Walk carefully and closely with the Lord today.

Warmly in Christ

Peter Ramsay

peter@heaven4sure.com

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