August 10: Matthew 18:1-5
 
Key Verse: Matthew 18:3
And he said: ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
 
Devotion:
As we grow older we change the way we behave and the way we live; sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. Jesus was telling the disciples how they should be more like children to make sure they gain access to Heaven. Now, we could take this as we have to misbehave as children do or to be as innocent as children – I know I was not so innocent as a child!
 
When Jesus brought the child amongst them, I’m pretty sure He would have chosen a child who was behaving! God wants us to have the innocence of children but the maturity of adults. He wants us to have the faith of children and not the pride and arrogance of adults. As we grow us, we lose the innocence we used to have as we continue to get side-tracked by the trappings of the world – we wander away from God.
 
Children normally will gather around adults or follow after them because they learn this is the safest place for them to be. As we grow closer to God and have Christ more in our lives, we should know we are safest when closest to Him too.
 
But it doesn’t stop there, because as we grow up into adults it then becomes our turn to look after the children who look to us in faith – both physically and spiritually. We do need to be the adults, but with the innocence and faith of children wanting to be with their parents. We should be more like children seeking our Father in Heaven, looking for every chance to be close to Him!
 
Points to Ponder:
How were you as a child?
 
Will you act more like a child and seek your Heavenly Father?