Bible In A Year | Read: Matthew 18
1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. 3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. Matthew 18:1-5
It’s hard to imagine, after everything the disciples have seen of Jesus, they would argue over who is greatest! They are becoming like Pharisees, but Jesus wants them to become like children. Jesus is concerned for everyone, especially those in need of rescue. Sometimes even our fellow Christians are in need of rescue. He provides a model of how we can relate to those who have sinned against us. It is all motivated by a desire to see the relationship restored. It takes a great deal of humility to want to restore a relationship that has been broken by the other person’s wrongdoing. Continual forgiveness of others, as we have been forgiven by God, is required.
Everyone probably struggles with pride. Even if we don’t say it, we want to have some sort of advantage over those around us. We also want to see others punished for the wrongs they have done to us. If I want to be greater than you and you want to be greater than me, we will always be dissatisfied. If I want you to be punished for your sin and mine to be overlooked, and you want it the other way around, things will never turn out. But practicing humility and forgiveness works for everyone.
Humbling ourselves like little children – this is such a difficult heart to have.
Jesus says this is the true heart of people who are in His kingdom. To get into His Kingdom, we must have this kind of heart attitude. To be great in His Kingdom, we must have this heart.
I look around God’s family and I see people who do not have such a heart. They had a child-like heart when they got into the Kingdom, but without it now they will never be great in the Kingdom. Take some time today and pray – ask God to reveal your heart. If He exposes a heart that must have its way, must be right, must be first, must… Then take time and ask God to give you His kingdom heart.
Prayer
Father, too often we think a kingdom heart is focused on truth, correctness, etc. These are truly part of Your Kingdom but they do not describe a great person in Your Kingdom. A child-like heart does. Why do we have such a hard time making this requirement a passion in our lives? Today, I take time to pray and ask You to expose my heart – see if the heart of a child is missing. My desire is to be great in His Kingdom. So I am asking for help… and a child-like heart. I ask this in Jesus’ name Amen.
Action Step
What is God showing me? What am I going to do about it?
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