Jesus Loves the Little Ones

A seven-year-old named Jimmy moved into the house next to mine a few years ago. At times he was a nuisance. He phoned about five times a day, and often rang the doorbell. We'd find him standing at our front door with his hands and nose pressed against the glass.

Living next door to Jimmy required a lot of Windex—but we couldn't wipe away the impression that behind Jimmy's freckles and red hair was a little person crying out for love and guidance.

Remember what the children sing in Sunday school? "Jesus loves the little ones like you." It's not that the Lord has anything against bigness. If he were against bigness, he wouldn't have designed a vast universe, created the Rocky Mountains, or told his followers to take the gospel to all nations. Jesus heads a very big church, and the angels rejoice when sinners repent and the church grows bigger.

But Jesus willingly shared his life with the little ones. The disciples rebuked the parents who tried to bring their children, reasoning, "Surely Jesus has bigger things to do!" But the Lord wasn't too busy or too important to welcome children.

In fact, Jesus saw a lesson in the little ones. "The kingdom of God belongs to such as these," he said. "Anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it" (Mark 10:14, 15).

That's why Jesus showed his love to the little ones. "He took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them" (Mark 10:16). Jesus' hands healed a blind man's eyes, broke bread and bled while nail-pierced on the cross—but those same hands patted the backs and tousled the hair of little boys and girls. Surely those children never forgot the day when Jesus blessed them.

And make no mistake about it—kids today still long to know the touch of Jesus. Something is very wrong with a culture where parents scramble to buy their kids Tickle Me Elmo dolls but don't bother to teach them the Ten Commandments; where kids know sports heroes but not heroes of faith; where foundational principles of right and wrong too often are ridiculed in the press, undermined at school, and ignored in the home.

Even pop music star Madonna—hardly a symbol of family values—said recently, "I want my daughter to read the Bible" instead of watching television. "To be plopped in front of a TV instead of being read to, talked to, or encouraged to interact with other human beings is a huge mistake," she said. Unfortunately, Madonna went on to say, "But I will explain to her that these are stories that people made up . . . it's not the rule." Our children do need to learn the Bible—from parents who believe and desire to model the truths of Scripture.

Jimmy eventually moved away. But before he left, he went to church with our family one Sunday. When we returned home, we laughed as Jimmy sprang from our car and ran to his mother waving the take-home papers his Bible teacher had given him. He called as he ran, "Mommy, Mommy, God is real!"

Yes, Jimmy, God is real and his Word is true. He loves little ones like you.