Matthew 18:1-9
The Greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven
1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"
2 He called a little child and had him stand among them. 3 And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
5 "And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. 6 But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.
7 "Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through whom they come! 8 If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. 9 And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.
The author of Hebrews tells us that having faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see...By our faith we understand the universe was created at God's command...It takes faith to believe that God created our universe...And without faith, it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exits (Hebrews 11:1,3,6)...We were not there when God laid the foundation of the earth...
When we are children we have broader imaginations...We are innocent and naive...Life is simple...We have belief and faith in things that as we age seem to fade and drift away...We have more learning experiences as we age...We begin to question more of these things we cannot understand or explain...And we let those things and stories we once believed in like God giving Moses our Ten Commandments, Noah's flood, and Jonah's great fish go because we now we can't explain them (they did not need explaining when we were younger)...We want more "personal" evidence from God...
Jesus teaches us that unless we change and become like little children, we will never enter the kingdom of heaven...Therefore, whoever humbles himself like a child, will become the greatest in the kingdom of heaven...And whoever welcomes a little child in My name welcomes Me...But if anyone causes one of these children to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea...
The is woe to the world, because of our sins and the things that cause us to sin...Such things must come, but woe to the man who from whom they come...If your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away...It is better to have only one hand or one foot in this life than to be thrown into the eternal fire of hell...If your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out...It is better for you to enter life with one eye than two have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell...
It is interesting Jesus tells us the things causing us to sin must come...Troubles will come in our lives...And we must take extreme precautions to avoid causing other people to sin...We must get rid of those things that cause us to sin in our lives and things that cause us to bring sin on others...By ridding our lives of sin, we may lose desires, pleasures, and even more painful sacrifices, but it must be done...We are to avoid sin, and rid those things in our lives that cause others to sin, at all costs...
When we are very young we do not seek fame, power, and money...We see others, no matter their backgrounds as playmates and follow our parents exclusively...We are teachable, and want to learn...We are curious and can take a little information about different things and believe in them...As we age we want more truths, more facts, and more personal evidence to believe in things...
The evil one causes us to sin...We are challenged by the evil one because our love of this earth, and our weak flesh... Jesus makes it clear that satan is formidable...He takes the evil one very seriously...We must avoid and run from evil when the evil one is around it...
We were not there when God laid the foundation of the earth...God understands all things and we don't...Understanding every little fact is less important to us when we are young, but gets more important to us as we age...There will things we will not completely understand like creation (as well as other things), such as the problem of pain and suffering, that only God understands...
To get in His kingdom we must be innocent, naive, meek, humble, see life more simply..We should not seek the love of power, fame, or money...This is what we can learn from children...The kingdom of God is earned and learned by our seeking Him...These child-like qualities plus our trust in the LORD's grace can get us back to the garden, to His kingdom...