All children need Jesus!

Matthew 18: 10-14

   I grew up in a large townhouse complex in a big metro area.  There were many children who lived in the townhouse complex, so there were often other children to play with.  I was considered a ‘goody-goody,’ which in retrospect I am thankful for, since being nice to people is always a good thing.

   A bunch of us kids were playing “kickball” one day.  Then one of the kids rolled on the ground, and grabbed the ball.  He said he was not going to let us have it.  We all circled around him and told him to give us the ball.  He said “no.”  So I gave the ball a kick, trying to knock it loose.  In doing so, I hit his finger.  That kid started crying in pain.  And we happened to be right in front of his townhouse.  I had never had something like that happen, and it scared me.  I left, going down to the end of the block of townhouses.  When I look behind, I could see the boy’s mom come out, and the other kids yelled to her, “He went down there.”  Then I was really scared.  I ended up running down an entire two blocks of townhouses, which was a long ways for me at that age.

   I looped around the edge of townhouses which face the parking lot.  Then I walked back up towards my townhouse row.  I perched behind a stairwell.  The kids had gone back to playing kickball.  All was back to normal with them, yet I was separated.  Being ‘in trouble,’ I did not know how I could go back.  I watched them play kickball for a while, but then they stopped.  I went down a bit by the road, and stood in the deep door well of a ground floor townhouse.  One kid, a kid I considered a bully, came walking right by.  He was calling out my name.  I stood still, and he walked right past me as I stood in the shadow of the door well.

   Yet the longer I stood there, the more distraught I became.  I wanted to go home, but I felt trapped.

   What may have been only a few minutes later, though it seemed like a long time, my dad walked by.

   “Dad!” I said in an enthusiastic yet muffled voice.  Dad and I took a walk around the neighborhood and he listened to me.  Then during the walk, Dad stated how it is always best to stay and deal with a rough situation rather than running away from it.  It was wise advice for a lifetime.

   Now Isaiah 53:6 states, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his or her own way;

and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (NIV).

   In my youth, I was a ‘goody-goody,’ and I was Captain of the Safety Patrols, and I was an Eagle Scout, and I had much success as a student at Virginia Tech, yet there was a separation from my Father in heaven.

   Now I did gain in my youth a private belief there is a God, sometimes praying for young ladies I liked.  And God kept reaching out to me, and there came times when I was seeking truth about God.  But because there was a separation between God and myself, I was spiritually dying.

   On April 15, 1990, that separation came to an end as I gave my heart to Jesus.  The second statement in Isaiah 53:6 is: “…and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”  That Him is Jesus the Messiah.  Jesus was the One who took all of the sins of every person of all time, past, present, and future, in His own heart, and died for those sins as the substitute on the cross.

   And now the decision is yours.  Jesus has found you!  If you receive Him, you will be saved from the consequence of yours sins, which is spiritual death, and you will have eternal life.

   For those of us who have been saved, we have a mighty calling.  And that calling includes doing all we can to love the children in our lives.  May I get personal here and say that at this time in history here in America, we are living in a time of cultural decadence.  Even at a young age, many children are being exposed to a barrage of evil.  Even in some schools they are being taught many things which contradict the teachings of Jesus.  Even in some Christian churches, children are being taught some things which contradict the teachings of Jesus.  Instead, we followers of Jesus need to be warning people of the tragic consequence of sins.

   I am heartbroken by the sinful teachings our children are being enticed with.

   I know there is still hope, since Jesus goes after the lost now with endless vigor, just as He has daily throughout the past 2,000 years.  And Jesus works through the hearts of His followers.  We need the Holy Spirit to help us love children.

   The bottom line: We need to fully rely on God to give everything we have in order to love the children in our lives!

   Children need our genuine Christian love.

   All children need Jesus!!

Hunter Irvine

Blessed dependence on God

Matthew 18: 1-4        At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

He called a little child and had him stand among them.  And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (NIV)

   Serving as a youth minister, paid and volunteer, for a number of years at a small church in the Denver metropolitan area, I had a loving friend named Shirley.  A retired woman, that saint dedicated herself to volunteer ministry work at that church.  She was an expert quilter and a longtime quilting teacher.

   Every summer for many years, that church carried out VBS.  For those five days every summer, Shirley was there to teach the kids arts and crafts.  I was in my 30’s at the time.  I always carried out the Bible teaching sessions, and sometimes I felt as though I would not make it through all five days.  And year after year, Shirley would say, “This is the last year I am going to do this.”  Her statement was more emphatic each year.  Yet year after year, Shirley would come all prepared to teach.  She did so up until she died of cancer.  She loved those children.  And the children loved her.

   Throughout the year, after a typical church service, many students would rush to the fellowship hall and load up on donuts.  After having two or three, they would then run around the church, inside, outside, or both.  On the flip side, after worship Shirley was one to take the fellowship time to socialize.  A meticulous crafter, she did not remind me of a kid in her actions.  Yet Shirley was always young at heart.  She was quick to laugh, and simply full of life.  I never once thought of her as “old.”

   Shirley is in the kingdom of heaven now.  She fits the type of person Jesus was talking about, yet not because she acted decades younger than she was.  The reason: She was dependent on God.

   When Jesus states a person needs to become like a little child in order to enter the kingdom of heaven, dependence on God is what He is talking about.  Children are utterly dependent.  Children need daily help from their parents.  Children need to learn much.  (Many children love to learn if the learning has an element of adventure to it rather than being boring.)  And children need guidance and encouragement.  And first and foremost, children need love.

   Truth is, all of us people need daily help from our heavenly Father.  All of us need to keep learning from God.  All of us need daily guidance and encouragement from the Lord God Almighty.  And first and foremost, all of us need true love.  “God is Love” (I John 4:16).

   After graduating from college, I backpacked the entire Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine.  It took me 164 days.  It was one of the greatest accomplishments in my life.  I loved the hiking, and I would engage in thinking galore as I spent hours and hours of hiking.  After one afternoon of hiking and thinking in Maine, I stood at a vista pondering.  And that pondering led to my personal embrace of a consideration which I decided was true.  I wrote it down on a piece of paper.  Turns out, that conviction is the principle being taught by Jesus in this passage.  Thus I close with my quote from 1990:

“True freedom is an acceptance of your absolute dependence on God.”

Hunter Irvine