"Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And He called a child to Himself and set him before them and said, Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me..."
If you've ever had a child and seen in them the absolute trust and desire to want to please so completely, you can totally understand why Jesus used this analogy. Oh, to love like a child loves...and to be loved by a child in this precious way. Of course God wants that from us.
One of my favorite passages in the Bible is v. 12-14, because it is me. I wander away - way, way too often - and Jesus always comes looking and finds me. "If it turns out that he (Shepard) finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray". Once again, if you've had children you would know that no matter what they have done, you want to find them and bring them home.
Praise God!
The last part of the chapter is about forgiveness. How often shall you forgive your brother? 7 times? No, 70 times 7. We have been forgiven by Him much more than that. John MacArthur, "Picturing the generous, compassionate forgiveness of God to a pleading sinner who owes Him an unpayable debt."
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