Jesus shares a vital lesson with his disciples on the importance of approaching and accepting the kingdom of God like little children. "I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.”
Mark 10:15 NLT. Have you ever pondered about what Jesus meant here, what does it mean to receive something like a child? In Jesus' day, children were despised and relegated to the back and did not deserve to be seen, not to talk about taking the center stage and coming to see Jesus. But Jesus says unless we are like them, we can't enter the kingdom. A few thoughts on what it means to be a child; children are innocent and forgiving, they are meek and accepting, they forget and love easily. To make matters even more interesting, Jesus also says learning to treat each other and welcoming each other like little children opens up to us a dimension of relationship with the Father like we have not seen before; "He sat down, called the twelve disciples over to him, and said, “Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else.” Then he put a little child among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, “Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes not only me but also my Father who sent me.”
Mark 9:35-37 NLT. Father help us to receive the kingdom like little children.
