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This week we are continuing our study of Chapter 18. Please read verses 18:15-22 every day this week and, if possible, use a different translation each day, asking God to open your eyes to fresh revelation from His Word.
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Luke 18:15-16 (New Living Translation)
‘One day some parents brought their little children to Jesus so he could touch and bless them. But when the disciples saw this, they scolded the parents for bothering him. Then Jesus called for the children and said to the disciples, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children.’
A few weeks ago, at Oasis Community Church, we held a service to celebrate my daughter’s marriage. During the service, I mentioned that it only seemed like yesterday when she was just a baby and I held in her in my arms in a service of dedication. How the years fly by…
The dedication service was a very special time for Cath and I as we honoured God for the gift of life and thanked Him for giving us such a special gift. We also asked God to bless and to guard her life as we sought to bring her up within the love and care of a Christian home. We recognised that we, as parents are custodians for a short while and we desperately wanted God’s blessing on her life.
In our verses today, we see a similar attitude from the parents who were meeting Jesus. The words used in the NLT are ‘little children’ and this could mean young children as well as babies. The word in the original language is ‘brephos’ which means ‘babe’. The New King James Version says ‘they also brought infants’, which indicates that there were older children as well as the infants or babies. The scene was probably one where the parents of children of all ages were flooding to Jesus.
They only had one thing in mind and that was for Jesus to ‘touch’ or to ‘bless’ their little ones. In Jewish culture, a blessing was a request to God ‘to increase’ or ‘to bring down Divine abundance’. In other words, when I’m asking God to bless my daughter, I’m asking for more of God in her life! I’m asking Him to give increase to her life and to bring an abundance of who God is into every area of her life. That’s a wonderful thing to ask and I think we should do more ‘blessing’ of the people around us. From a purely selfish point of view, I would love it if every person reading this devotion would take a few minutes to pray a blessing on my life. I want more of God! I want His abundance in my life.
That gives us a better understanding of what was happening in our verses today. The parents were eager to get Jesus to pray God’s abundance into their lives. Surely, every parent wants the best for their children. I can think of nothing better than more of God in their lives.
Please take a few minutes today to think afresh about how we bless others. Perhaps you could begin to pray a blessing on those that God brings to mind.
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