Word for the day by Christian Education Forum
Letting the Children to Praise
the Lord with Innocence
Silvy Thomas
St. John’s MTC, NY
16 and said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?”
Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read,‘Out of the mouths of infants and
nursing babies you have prepared praise for yourself’?”
Children are an essential part of our lives. It is our
responsibility to raise them in faith and to make them holy. In many cases, we
see children as being immature and we ignore them because of their age and lack
of exposure to the world. Never would we acknowledge the behaviours and
actions of a child to be examples for us to follow as a guidance for us,
adults. Throughout the Bible, however, we see Jesus setting children as
examples for elders to look up to and we never see Him looking down upon them.
In
Matthew 19:14 we read, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder
them for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.” From this verse, we can see
just how important children are. We often think that it is only from adults
that children can learn, but in many cases it can be the other way around. We
rarely look to our children as our teachers and mentors because we never think
that children, who are so innocent, could ever teach us a worthwhile lesson.
This verse, however, focuses on the idea of children as examples to be emulated. Children have innocent minds and they have no deception or wickedness in their hearts so when they are praising God, they do so wholeheartedly. They praise God without any bad or selfish intentions in their minds. According to this verse, this is the exact lesson we should learn from children. We need to follow their example of worship because they are pure in nature, with unconditional love. At the end of the day, we grown ups are His children, too. We need to remember that no matter how many days, months, and years pass by, we are forever considered His children in His eyes. As humans, sin is inevitable and impure thoughts are always lurking in our minds. However, when we pray and worship the Lord, it is crucial to remember to do so with a clean heart and quiet mind.
PRAYER
Dear Lord, we are thankful for
all the children of the earth. Help us to become like them pure in nature and
to worship You with purity and innocence. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
“A person’s a person no matter how small” Dr. Seuss.