Play Date with Jesus

¹³ Then little children were brought to Him that He might put His hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them. ¹⁴ But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” 15 
And He laid His hands on them and departed from there. Matthew 19:13-15 NKJV
The parents had brought their children to Jesus hoping for a chance that He might put His hands on them and pray for them. The disciples must have thought that Jesus’s schedule was too busy for this because the bible says that they rebuked them. I am thinking in my imagination with something like, “Hey, Jesus is much too busy to be bothered with little kids. We have a schedule to keep” Children were just considered property during that period of time but Jesus loved them. He took time and blessed them.

If I close my eyes I can play it all out in my mind… Jesus smiles when He looked into the eyes of each little one. He knew them well…He knew little John with his big brown eyes and little Ruth with her nurturing qualities. I can see Jesus tilt his head back and laugh when He looked into the eyes of the mischievous Matthew and maybe even whispered in his ear about the funny joke that he had played on his brother. When Jesus looked into Hannah’s eyes He tells her that He can see the fire that burns deep in her heart and she just beams with pride. I can see Jesus tickle their bellies and then I see the compassion and love in His eyes. He starts to speak blessings on each and every one of them. He speaks of the great things that He knows that each one of them will do in their lives. They would remember Jesus for their whole life and so would their parents.

Jesus knew that His time would be well spent with these kids. Oh how He loved them. He didn’t think of them as a nuisance or a bother. He didn’t think of them as just another mouth to feed. He treasured them! He invested in them. We should think of our children in the same way that Jesus did. We need to value them, take time for them and teach them. They are little sponges soaking up whatever is around them. We need to make sure that they are protected and surrounded with sound doctrine, love and goodness. We need to make time to bring them to our Lord and know that He will touch them. We don’t want to be the ones who shoo them away from Jesus…we want to make the way for them to meet Him just like those parents did in that passage.

We are God’s kids. He loves us and desires to spend time with us. He is willing to make time for us if we are willing to spend time with Him. He wants to laugh with us, look into our eyes, encourages and bless us!  
Making Time With Him,

Shanin