Life Application: Suffer The Little Children

Mark 10:14-16
Suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. And he took them up in his arms, put his hands on them, and blessed them.

I bring this verse up with several thoughts in mind, and I may have to break this up into a few topics so please bear with me.

I will start with a young boy from my church. He is about eight I think, or close to it. He has cerebral palsy. He also has the most steadfast faith of anyone I know.

He holds weekly (sometimes bi-weekly) services, in which he offers eucharist. He has been given special permission to use consecrated elements with his parents supervision. He has a few friends that even come for these services. He even baptises his friends that aren't baptised, and leads them into lives filled with God's grace.

This child is even a prophet of sorts. He occasionally has a word for us that no child of eight should even be able to comprehend on a good day.

He is an amazing gift of God. So full of unquestioning faith in God, so ready to be used as His instrument.

Think for a moment with me. What if this boy was not allowed to follow God's will in his life? What if he were quieted every time he tried to speak? Told that he couldn't bring his friends into the loving grace of God? What if he weren't allowed to tell his friends that God loves them and that Jesus died for them?

Mark 9:42
And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone be hanged around his neck, and he be cast into the sea.

Children are far more intelligent and intuitive than we realize sometimes. Even I have to remind myself of this constantly. We must be responsible for allowing our children to come to Jesus even when we don't see God's call for them.