Thursday Thoughts

"Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 18:3

As we have been studying the book of Matthew, we have seen how he has been laying out the answer to how to enter the Kingdom of heaven. We have seen that in order to enter the Kingdom there must be repentance (Matt. 3:2, 4:17, 9:13). There must be a sense of unworthiness (Matt.5:3). There must be humility (Matt. 5:4-5) . There must be a willingness to submit obediently to the Lordship of Christ and confession and self‑sacrifice and a persistent pursuing faith (Matt. 7:21, Matt. 8:19, 10:32, 15:21-28). None of these elements are produced in the flesh. They are all the work of the Spirit of God. But they are nonetheless the elements, the constituent parts that occur in the soul that is brought to the Kingdom.

And now we come to Matthew 18 where the disciples have asked "who is the greatest in the Kingdom"? How we must weary the Lord at times. Jesus has told them that He must suffer at the hands of the scribes and the Pharisees, that He is going to die and He's given them all of that information and they still don't get it.

They're still saying, in effect, we know the Kingdom is coming and we know You're going to set it up and who is going to be the greatest in it? And they're looking at the Kingdom in its earthly definition. They were seeking self‑glory, prestige, prominence and Jesus had just been teaching them, chapter 16:24, that if any man will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me, let him lose his life if he wants to find it. And He's been talking about self‑denial and humility all along. And they still are self‑seeking, grasping, desiring prominence. They are all about self glory!

So Jesus answers them with the picture of a little child in His arms. We are to convert to turn around and become as a child. What is a child like? A little child is humble, simple, unaffected, without hypocrisy, unambitious...that's a little child...meek. Children don't have great thoughts of personal greatness and grandeur and glory for themselves. They're not even conscious about what they wear. They get irritated when you try to dress them up. They're simple, little tender infant in Jesus' arms, so open, so without hypocrisy, so content to be held and directed and fed, so content to be dependent, so willing to submit, so unpretentious. Nothing between them and Jesus!!


Make me, O Lord, a child again, so tender, frail and small.
In self possessing nothing, in Thee possessing all.
O Savior, make me small once more that downward I may grow,
And in this heart of mine restore the faith of long ago.
With Thee may I be crucified, no longer I that lives.
O Savior, crush my sinful pride by grace which pardon gives.
Make me, O Lord, a child again, obedient to Thy call,
In self possessing nothing, in Thee possessing all. ~ Author Unknown