Children matter

Image: Pixabay

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Matthew 18:1-14

TO CHEW ON: “'Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.'” Matthew 14:5


Has it ever happened that as you sat quietly in your seat in church one Sunday, a family with children came and sight right beside you or behind you? Suddenly your peaceful morning became restless with those wee ones not able to sit still, asking for snacks, kicking the back of your seat with their little shoes.  (And I’m talking here about someone else's children, not your own or your grand-kids.)

How did you feel? Be honest. Was there not a glimmer of irritation? At the least a tiny a sigh of annoyance? At such times Matthew 18:1-14 would be a good bit to read and remember. In it Jesus invited a child to join him at center stage. Then He gave a little talk based on this living illustration. Some of His points:

• You need to become humble like a child to be great in the kingdom of heaven - Matthew 18:3,4.

• Receiving a child in My (Jesus’) name is equivalent to welcoming Me - Matthew 18:5.

• Enticing a believing child to sin is super-serious - Matthew 18:6-9.

• Despising one of these little ones puts you at odds with the paradigm of heaven where their angels have continuous access to Father God - Matthew 18:10.

• Lost children are worth going to great lengths to save—God doesn’t want even one to stay lost - Matthew 18:11-14.

I’m going to remind myself of Matthew 18:1-14 next time I’m tempted to be irritated by kids racing down church corridors, leaving a mess, making too much noise, just being kids. Will you join me? Jesus loves them; let’s love them too!

PRAYER: Dear Father, I need to remember what it felt like to be a child. I need patience, kindness and Your point of view about children. Help me to see and love them as You do. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Stumbling and remorse

"Peter's Denial" by Otto Dix - 1960

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Matthew 26:57-75


TO CHEW ON: "And Peter remembered the word of Jesus who had said to him, 'Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times!' So he went out and wept bitterly." Matthew 26:75

Peter wept for good reason. Not only had he let himself down, but he had let Jesus down  and this mere hours after declaring, "even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble" - Matthew 26:33.

His trip-up wasn't just a momentary lapse either. When given a chance to reverse his disloyalty he had nailed it down with an oath, then dusted off his colourful fisherman's vocabulary to dance around it with curses and swearing.

When he heard the rooster crow, he remembered. It's almost as if he was temporarily insane. But that cock crow pulled him back to reality and deep, deep remorse.

His story and other instances of remorse following stumbles in the Bible teach us some valuable lessons:

1. Anyone can fall.
David, who was called a "man after God's own heart," indulged in adultery with Bathsheba and then committed murder to cover it up. He felt similar deep remorse. His feelings are recorded in Psalm 51.

2. It's important to feel remorse in time.
Proverbs 5:7-14 and Ezekiel 7:14-16; 36:31 talk about being remorseful too late, when the situation is lost or when life is all but over.

3. Remorse without repentance is dangerous.
The writer of Hebrews talks about Esau (who was full of regret after trading his birthright for a bowl of stew) as having remorse that didn't fruit into anything good (Hebrews 12:17). Neither did Judas's remorse at betraying Jesus (Matthew 27:3,5).

Fortunately, Peter's remorse took a different path. He and Jesus were reconciled and he was even able to extract from that experience of stumbling a triumphant theme:

"...you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple... 
'He is the stone that makes people stumble,
      the rock that makes them fall.'
   They stumble because they do not obey God’s word, and so they meet the fate that was planned for them.
 But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people..." (NLT from 1 Peter 2:4-10)

I am not immune from stumbles. You probably aren't either. Let's determine, though, to learn from those falls and to return quickly to Jesus with remorse and repentance, knowing that there is for us, like there was for Peter, a place in God's "spiritual temple."

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, help me to live alert to situations that would stumble me. When I fall, help me to get up and return to you not only with remorse, but also with repentance. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Spiritual stumblung

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Luke 7:18-35

TO CHEW ON: "'Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of Me.'" Luke 7:23

When John asked his disciples to get reassurances from Jesus that He was indeed "the One who is to come," it seems like he was really asking, 'Have I given my life to the right cause or person?'

Jesus' answer back, that His questioners tell John of all the miracles He was doing—was, I imagine, both reassuring to John and not. I wonder if, when John was reminded of Jesus' power, he didn't ask, at least inwardly, Couldn't you then do a miracle for me—get me out of Herod's prison?

Perhaps that's what Jesus was referring to—His inscrutable ways—when He concluded, " 'Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of Me.'"

We too try to understand Jesus' continuing works on earth through the Holy Spirit. But there's still no predicting or controlling Him. We fast and pray for situations, the sick, the unsaved. Sometimes we see results, sometimes not. I believe Jesus' words are as relevant to us as they were to John: "'Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of Me.'"

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, help me to continue to trust You even when I don't understand what You are or are not doing. Amen.

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Unless noted otherwise, all Scriptures quoted in this meditation are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

The stumble trap

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Matthew 26:31-56

TO CHEW ON: "Then Jesus said to them, 'All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: "I will strike the Shepherd
And the sheep of the flock will be scattered."'" - Matthew 26:31

Jesus predicts a sobering thing when He says that the disciples will stumble that night.

The Greek word translated stumble here is scandalizo. It means: 1] To put a stumbling block or impediment in the way to entice to sin; 2] To cause a person to begin to distrust one whom he ought to trust and obey so that he falls away, is offended, judges another unfavourably 3] To feel annoyed, displeased, indignant.

Matthew uses the same word:

• When he quotes Jesus on plucking out an eye or cutting off a hand that makes us stumble (Matthew 5:29,30; 18:8,9).

• In the parable of the sower as Jesus describes the shallow-rooted person as one who stumbles as a result of tribulation and persecution (Matthew 13:21).

• As a description of the scribes and Pharisees' reaction to Jesus' teachings: Disciples: "'Do you know that the Pharisees were offended (scandalizo) when they heard this saying…" (Matthew 15:12; also 13:57).

• To describe what people do who cause children to sin and lose their faith. Jesus: "… but whoever causes one of these little ones to believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck …'" (Matthew 18:6).

It's easy for us to fault the disciples for stumbling after the years they had spent with Jesus and especially after He told them to be alert to this happening. But we are hardly different.

A few weeks ago I broke my hip in a fall down some stairs. My reaction to this was not happy and faith-filled. In fact, I sensed in me some of the reaction of stumbling of the shallow-rooted person who falls away because of trial.

I see several applications for life here:

1. It is important that we are steeped in the truth about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and what our life on earth is about, so we don't have unrealistic expectations and thus stumble when they're not met—like the disciples did; like we so easily do when things don't go our way.

2. We can stumble others—children, our fellow church members, unbelievers—by our reaction to God's dealings with us and with others.

PRAYER: Dear God, I feel warned about having an attitude that causes me to stumble when you allow less-than-pleasant things in my life. Help me to be alert to times when I could stumble or when my attitude could stumble others. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Little ones

"Jesus and the Little Child" by James Tissot

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Matthew 18:1-20

TO CHEW ON: "So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish." Matthew 18:14 ESV

"Little ones" here refers to little people — children. Jesus had great affection for them. Earlier in this chapter we see Him calling a child over, putting him in the centre of the group and saying profound things like, "... unless you turn and become like children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven" - Matthew 18:3-4.

He goes on to say what a serious sin it is to cause a child to stumble (sin). And after exploring the gravity of causing anyone to stumble (Matthew 18:7-9). He again turns His attention toward the child, pointing out the importance of each one: "So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish."

How beautifully the family serves Jesus' ideal in this way. Bring any baby—homely or beautiful, mentally challenged or brilliant—into a loving family and he/she will have a ready-made cheering section of parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins, who are onside, helping, encoring, loving and cheering the kid on.

Of course here Jesus was talking about more than social well-being. He was drawing attention to the importance of a child's spiritual state (Matthew 18:5-6).

When we consider what Jesus said and combine that with the fact that a child's worldview is largely formed by the time he or she is 13 years old,* we can see how important our treatment and training of children is.

So let's look at the children in our lives with a renewed sense of responsibility, taking care to not only refrain from making them stumble/sin, but to help them find Jesus.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for the little people in my life. Please help me to take seriously the warning not to stumble them. Help me, instead, to point them to Jesus with my words and my life. Amen.

MORE: I Don't Want to Pray

“I don’t want to pray,”
slap words sting
from my four-year-old daughter.
How have I millstoned God to her
so she won’t bring
her earaches to Him?

I remember, “Are you saved?”
evangelistic, zealous aunt
cornered me, seven.
Next time she visited,
I hid.

Jesus is different.
His words a compelling beckon
lure-and-bait questions
irresistible Pied-Piper-tune stories.

I see my little girl
one of that eager wriggling crowd
pressing too close
for disciples’ comfort.
His eyes draw her near
she leans, trusting, against Him
He lifts her on His knee.

While He talks
she watches the way
His chin moves,
fingers His beard,
catches His eye
and says, shyly,
“I have an earache.”

© 2003 by Violet Nesdoly (First published on the Utmost Christian Writers website.)


* As per George Barna in Transforming Children Into Spiritual Champions By George Barna, 2003.

Do you put up stumbling blocks?

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Luke 17:1-10

TO CHEW ON: "Then He said to the disciples, 'It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come! It would better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.'" Luke 17:1-2

If you've raised children, you will know what it's like to see yourself — your habits and mannerisms — reflected in them. If you regularly speak to a child in anger, don't be surprised if you hear your tone of voice echoed in the way she speaks to her siblings and friends — even to you.

Treating your child in a way that if she apes you warrants a scolding is hypocrisy and one way you can cause offense (literally put a stumbling block in her path). Jesus warns of that. A footnote in my Bible explaining these verses says:

"Here it (offense) designates something that will cause another to sin. No person sins in a vacuum; others are affected. Jesus issues a strong warning against being the cause of the apostasy of others, particularly those less mature in years and experience." New Spirit Filled Life Bible, p. 1422.

What are some other ways we can stumble our little ones (both literal and spiritual)?

1. By discouraging their faith.
Ten of the twelve spies Joshua sent to check out Canaan discouraged the people from entering the land by focusing on the obstacles rather than on the promises and power of God (Numbers 13:30-33).

2. By corrupting what God has said.
Malachi accused Israel's priests of putting up stumbling blocks in front of the people when they no longer adhered to what God had said but made up their own way to God (Malachi 2:7-8).

3. By setting up impossible man-made ways to come to God and live to please Him. 
Jesus accused the lawyers (experts in the Jewish law) of doing this (Matthew 23:13; Luke 11:46,52).

4. By acting without regard to another person's more sensitive conscience.
Paul warned the Corinthian church about doing that (1 Corinthians 8:9-13).

5. By refusing to look at our own actions.
We can spend a lot of time analyzing the actions of others and their potential to give offense. Instead we should look at ourselves. What are we doing that may be causing someone else to stumble (Romans 14:13).

There is, however, a way to guarantee that we won't be stumbling another. It's deceptively simple: LOVE.

Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. 1 John 2:10 NIV

PRAYER: Dear God, please make me aware of possible stumbling blocks in my attitudes and actions. Fill my heart with love that always considers the spiritual well-being of others before myself. Amen.

MORE: Stumbling block insights

Lots of activities in our culture are potential stumbling blocks. Here are a few articles from gotquestions.org that shed light on our participation in some possible stumbling-block-type activities:

"Should a Christian Go To Movies?"

"What Does the Bible Say About Fun and Entertainment?

"Should Christians Celebrate Halloween?

Do your 8-12-year-olds have daily devotions? Point them to Bible Drive-Thru.