The Greatest
Once the disciples came to Jesus and asked him, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
Perhaps they thought He would choose one of them. Instead He called a little child and had him stand among them. Not only did he pick the child as the greatest, he said that unless get over ourselves and become like little children, we will never enter the kingdom of heaven. So, whoever humbles himself like a child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus didn’t stop there. He said that when we welcome a little child in His name welcomes Him. But if anyone causes one of these dear precious little ones to sin, it would be better for him to have a huge boulder hung around his neck to be drowned in the depths of the sea. OCH!
Jesus continued to tell the parable of the lost sheep. The Luke 15 account of this parable is the more common one. This context ties it to kids. “See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.”
It’s the end of the weekend. Tomorrow we go back to ministering to kids. Tons of them. I am not good at numbers. More than a 100 maybe even more will show up unless it rains like it did today. Half of these kids are orphaned… maybe living with a granny or an auntie. Some are the older siblings taking care of their younger ones. Almost all have unemployed parents. For all the meal we help serve around 2 or 3 will be the last meal of the day and all they have had since breakfast if they had much then or not.
All are starved for love and affection. And its a joy just to give them what they hunger for.
They are precious. They are special. They are invaluable. Ministering to them is ministering to Jesus. He is serious about them. He is not willing that any be lost like a sheep w/o a shepherd.
May I not forget that they are the Greatest and I need to be like them.
