People were bringing little children to Jesus to have Him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, He was indignant. He said to them, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." And He took the children in His arms, put His hands on them and blessed them. ~ Mark 10:13-16
I was trying to read all the way through Mark 10 this morning but I always get stuck on the above passage. What struck me this morning was that Jesus was indignant at His disciples. Stop! Imagine with me. When I feel indignant with someone i'm like "What? You guuuuuuuuuuuys! No! No! Not cool. Not cool at all." I think when I've heard this read in the past it's been like there's lullaby music in the background and you imagine sheep and little girls wear pink bows in their hair and Jesus is this well manicured man saying in a gentle voice "Let the little children come to Me. And do not forbid them, for such is the kingdom of God." But He could have just as easiely been saying "Look at those beautiful clouds and birds? John, come tell me about fishing. One day there are going to be things called marsh mellows as white as clouds."
Uh... like NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! that's not it at all! Jesus was like "DUDE! What are you doing? What the freaking heck man? Let the kids come! For crying out loud, are you serious!?!"
So that was one thing that struck me this morn.
The other thing is that every time I read this passage I think about "...anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it" what does that mean? I always end up thinking about the idea to trust Jesus like little children, which turns to when I helped with a day camp with second grade girls. Little kids are so accepting of adults, so loving and admiring. The little girls that week were all about running up behind me, grabbing my hand to walk with me, sitting on my lap, wanting to sit next to me at lunch, asking for peggy back rides, and all in all just wanting to be right there with me. They trusted me and wanted to tell me all about their exciting things and how much they loved their parents.
Basically it didn't matter what we were doing or where we were going they wanted to be with their camp leaders.
They would ask where we were going and when they found out that was great for them! And they were like "Yay! We're going to arts and crafts! Wanna play 'I spy' on the way?"
Where as here in Vicki's adult head when God tells me, "You will be doing such and such..." I'm like "Oh crap! I'm not going to be any good at that! How do I prepare? I need to make a list of 29 hundred things of how too's before I do this one thing for the Lord!" When that's totally me trusting in my own strength and not trusting God to work out His plan, not trusting God that He's got this under control/ under wraps.
So today I learned Jesus was like "What the crap, guys! Lets the children come to Me! Oh and p.s. learn to follow Me and trust me like these small munchkins do! This is how you will find peace."
I was trying to read all the way through Mark 10 this morning but I always get stuck on the above passage. What struck me this morning was that Jesus was indignant at His disciples. Stop! Imagine with me. When I feel indignant with someone i'm like "What? You guuuuuuuuuuuys! No! No! Not cool. Not cool at all." I think when I've heard this read in the past it's been like there's lullaby music in the background and you imagine sheep and little girls wear pink bows in their hair and Jesus is this well manicured man saying in a gentle voice "Let the little children come to Me. And do not forbid them, for such is the kingdom of God." But He could have just as easiely been saying "Look at those beautiful clouds and birds? John, come tell me about fishing. One day there are going to be things called marsh mellows as white as clouds."
Uh... like NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! that's not it at all! Jesus was like "DUDE! What are you doing? What the freaking heck man? Let the kids come! For crying out loud, are you serious!?!"
So that was one thing that struck me this morn.
The other thing is that every time I read this passage I think about "...anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it" what does that mean? I always end up thinking about the idea to trust Jesus like little children, which turns to when I helped with a day camp with second grade girls. Little kids are so accepting of adults, so loving and admiring. The little girls that week were all about running up behind me, grabbing my hand to walk with me, sitting on my lap, wanting to sit next to me at lunch, asking for peggy back rides, and all in all just wanting to be right there with me. They trusted me and wanted to tell me all about their exciting things and how much they loved their parents.
Basically it didn't matter what we were doing or where we were going they wanted to be with their camp leaders.
They would ask where we were going and when they found out that was great for them! And they were like "Yay! We're going to arts and crafts! Wanna play 'I spy' on the way?"
Where as here in Vicki's adult head when God tells me, "You will be doing such and such..." I'm like "Oh crap! I'm not going to be any good at that! How do I prepare? I need to make a list of 29 hundred things of how too's before I do this one thing for the Lord!" When that's totally me trusting in my own strength and not trusting God to work out His plan, not trusting God that He's got this under control/ under wraps.
So today I learned Jesus was like "What the crap, guys! Lets the children come to Me! Oh and p.s. learn to follow Me and trust me like these small munchkins do! This is how you will find peace."
