Jesus Blesses the Children
Then some children were brought to Him so that He might lay His hands on them and pray; and the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, "Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."
Isn't it "so human" that many of us have such a difficult time understanding or accepting the concept of "saved by grace". We live in a world that tells us in every way possible that if we work hard enough we will get it, whatever it might be. The bonus. The American Dream. Whatever. So, I suppose it's hard for us to change gears and admit that there is nothing, absolutely nothing that we can do to earn our salvation. It is only through accepting our Lord as our Savior that we receive the blessing of grace and salvation from our sins. It is a gift. It is grace. It is undeserved. And if we receive the greatest gift ever given we want to tell others about our great gift. We want them to have the gift of salvation, too. We want to live a life to honor our Savior who has saved us by grace but we are not earning our salvation. None of us could. It would be a futile attempt to try.
When babies and children like Lynda are born they are born as sinful creatures through Adam's original sin just as all of creation since the fall of Adam and Eve in the garden. However, in the passage above Jesus proclaims that the kingdom of heaven belongs to children. Children like these babies and forever children like Lynda who cannot discern between right or wrong; good or evil. Jesus saves these precious children by grace,,, a special grace that doesn't require a decision to be made between good or evil. Christ's grace is given to these special ones. They are saved by grace because they cannot make a choice. He goes on to further emphasize that the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. It belongs to them. And, if we are going to enter that same kingdom we have to become like these babies and children who are totally dependent on God.
That kind of shoots the theory of working our way to heaven, doesn't it? It also shines a great light on the difference in God's ways and man's ways. For almost 42 years, Lynda has been looked upon by this world as flawed, different and imperfect. Yet, the kingdom of heaven belongs to forever children like Lynda. It belongs to babies and young children who Christ loved and took into his arms to bless when the disciples tried to turn them away (thinking as humans do that children aren't important because they haven't done anything for Jesus).
Years ago I took issue with denominations who claimed that babies were born into the world as sinful creatures. It made no sense to me how a baby who was completely innocent could be born with sin and I totally misunderstood the whole concept. As I matured in the faith, I understood that thanks to Adam and Eve, every baby born since has inherited a sinful nature. We aren't born neutral nor do we become sinful at a later point in time. It's just the way it is because we are human. The great news is that Jesus died for our sins. We just have to accept His gift of grace. There is no way any person on earth could earn salvation. If a person doesn't have the capacity to accept the gift of salvation due to their mental age, Jesus blesses these special people (babies, young children) with salvation. Remember none of us earned it. We are all saved by God's grace. There are many children and adults with special needs that place them in the same mental age range as the children that Christ blessed in Matthew 19:14.
I've heard people wonder and debate about what happens to disabled people when they die and didn't have the capability of declaring Christ as their Lord. Their mental age never matured to an age of accountability. So what happens to them? Where do they go? Is there a special place where babies and children before the age of accountability go? Or disabled children and adults who may not be able to make a profession of faith go that is different from where those of us who have willingly accepted Christ and have been saved by His grace? Are those of us who have made the choice to follow Jesus somehow more saved than the babies and young children who weren't able to make a decision? Even though they were saved by God's grace immediately and carried directly by Jesus into paradise? If we think like humans who feel we have to do something important for Christ to save us then we are a little puzzled about how this all works. If we look at grace and at what Jesus teaches us about the kingdom of heaven and how we must enter as a little child we can better understand that the babies and the little children and the forever children have a perfect slate. They have inherited the sinful nature of Adam just by being born but they also have complete trust and dependency on Jesus for everything. That's what he wants from all the rest of us. Complete dependency on Him. Not trying to show Him how wonderful we are and how worthy we are to be saved because that's absurd. We only enter the gates of Heaven because God has written our name in the book of life courtesy of Jesus dying on the cross for us and our only contribution was accepting the gift of Jesus.
Jesus loved the little children. He blessed them. He once became one of them born in a manger. We also have to humble ourselves and become as a little child again. Heaven is going to be a wonderful place because those who are there will have become like little children. The children with special needs and cognitively impaired adult who became forever children always had to try and fit into the what the world expected. What the world considers normal and typical.
God's vision is different. Now we all must become as these trusting children and adults while they lived on earth. Our trust must be in Jesus with the same unquestioning faith that these children demonstrated so perfectly. Be like a child. Trust like a child. Put your faith in Jesus with child-like trust and you will receive the grace He wants to cover you with for eternity.
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