Wednesday Devo

Read Luke 18:15-17. We all can sympathize with Jesus' disciples. They want the master to preserve his energy and the custom of bringing children to a famous Rabbi would surely just tire him all the more. We shouldn't read into this passage that the disciples hate children but that they love Jesus. 

It is true that many see children as a burden. Many see children as an obstacle in their way that needs to be set aside - quietened but Jesus in the midst of his fatigue invites them come and so should we. Mark 9:37 teaches that when we welcome a child in our midst - we are welcoming Christ himself. The implication is when we reject a child we are rejecting him as well.

Being the father of 3 precious children it is easy to see how rejection impacts them. A rejected child may struggle all their life to recover. Jesus doesn't miss the opportunity to bless them. We can spiritualize this passage and say, "what qualities of childlikeness do we need to have to please God." And come up with things like trust, dependence and meekness. The problem with that is we all know children who are not so innocent!

Perhaps we should just focus in on a common denominator of all children - neediness. All children have one thing in common and that is they need their father. Luke puts this story right after a story of a Pharisee who didn't need anything - his self-righteousness was going to get him through. This story shows us what kind of faith pleases the father.

How comfortable are we with the fact that we need him every hour just as the old hymn says? We work hard to become independent but we never are from the creator. If there is one thing every child has that we all need that is the awareness of our dependence. 

questions

1) what would our prayer life look like if we lived with an awareness of our radical dependence on God?

2) what hinders our ability to remember our dependence?

3) how can we keep our dependence on God at the forefront of our mind?