Loving the World: Loving the Children

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Don't You Dare Send Them Away: What Happens When Jesus Stops Everything for a Child

Can I be honest with you about something that quietly breaks my heart?

We live in a world that is very good at pushing children to the margins. Not always with cruelty — sometimes it happens with the best of intentions. We're busy. We're tired. We're focused on the serious, adult business of life. And children, bless them, have a way of showing up at exactly the wrong moment with sticky hands and loud voices and needs that can't wait.

And so — slowly, almost without noticing — we can develop a habit of managing children rather than welcoming them. Tolerating them rather than treasuring them. Shuffling them aside so the grown-ups can get on with things.

Here's what stopped me cold this week: the disciples did the exact same thing. And Jesus had something to say about it.

"Jesus said, 'Leave the children alone, and don't try to keep them from coming to me, because the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.'"  — Matthew 19:14 CSB

A Moment That Wasn't Supposed to Happen

Picture the scene. Jesus is surrounded by crowds, fielding hard questions from the Pharisees, teaching His disciples, moving through town after town. He is, by any measure, a busy man doing world-changing work.

And then — children. Parents pressing through the crowd, lifting little ones toward Him, hoping He might place His hands on them and pray. It was a common Jewish custom for respected rabbis. These parents weren't being presumptuous. They were being hopeful.

But the disciples stepped in. Rebuked them. Turned them away. In their minds, they were being helpful — protecting Jesus' time, managing the crowd, keeping things moving.

Jesus was not pleased.

Matthew 19:14 is short. It's only one verse. But it is loaded with meaning for anyone who wants to understand how God sees the children of this world — and what He expects of those who follow Him.

The Disciples Got It Wrong — And We Get It Wrong Too

Let's not be too hard on the disciples here. What they did made logical sense. Jesus had just finished a difficult exchange with the Pharisees about divorce. There were questions about eternal life waiting to be asked. There was serious kingdom business to attend to.

Children, in their view, could wait. Or maybe, couldn't contribute. Or maybe, just didn't matter enough in that moment to take up the Teacher's time.

Sound familiar?

We do this too — not just with individual children, but with the children of our world. We push off investing in children's ministry until the budget allows. We treat kids' programs as secondary to adult services. We look at a hurting child in a difficult family situation and think someone else is better equipped to handle that. We see children as the future of the church rather than what they actually are: the present reality of the Kingdom.

The disciples weren't evil. They were just wrong. And Jesus corrected them immediately.

"Whoever welcomes one little child like this in my name welcomes me."  — Matthew 18:5 CSB

Jesus Stopped Everything — And That Tells Us Everything

Here is what I want you to sit with for a moment: Jesus stopped. In the middle of everything — the crowds, the questions, the ministry demands — He stopped for children.

He didn't carve out a minute for them while mentally already on to the next task. He welcomed them. He placed His hands on them. He blessed them. This was not a hurried, check-the-box moment. This was Jesus demonstrating, with His body and His time and His attention, that children are not interruptions to Kingdom work. They are Kingdom work.

If the Son of God, who had approximately three years to change the entire course of human history, made time to hold children and bless them — what does that say to us about where children should fall on our list of priorities?

"But Jesus called for them and said, 'Let the little children come to me, and don't stop them, because the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.'"  — Luke 18:16 CSB

Luke's account adds a detail Matthew doesn't: Jesus called for them. He sought them out. He wasn't just tolerating the interruption. He was actively, intentionally drawing children near.

That is our model. Not grudging accommodation. Active, intentional welcome.

'Such as These' — The Kingdom Belongs to Them

Don't rush past that phrase: "the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."

Jesus isn't just being kind to some children in a crowd. He is making a theological statement about what Kingdom citizens look like. Dependent. Trusting. Unable to earn their way in. Completely open to receiving what is given freely.

Children, in their very nature, model the posture every human being must take before God. They reach up because they cannot reach far enough on their own. They trust because they know they need someone bigger than themselves. They come to Jesus because they haven't yet learned to be too proud to need Him.

"Truly I tell you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."  — Matthew 18:3 CSB

This cuts both ways. Children model for us what faith looks like — and it means that the way we treat children reveals something about how seriously we take the Kingdom.

When we welcome children, we are not just being good people. We are practicing Kingdom values. When we invest in children — the hurting ones, the overlooked ones, the ones from difficult homes, the ones who show up every Sunday with nothing but need — we are participating in the very work Jesus identified as central to His mission.

Loving the World Means Loving Its Children

John 3:16 tells us that God so loved the world — and the world is full of children. Roughly a third of the global population is under eighteen. And many of those children are carrying burdens that adults would buckle under.

If we take seriously the call to love this world, we cannot do it while keeping children at arm's length. Loving the world looks like showing up for the children in our neighborhoods, our churches, our communities, our mission fields. It looks like creating spaces where they are safe, seen, and told the truth about who Jesus is and how much He loves them.

"Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained from the world."  — James 1:27 CSB

The orphan — the child without a covering, without protection, without someone to speak for them — is held up by James as a defining test of genuine faith. Not because caring for vulnerable children earns us anything with God. But because a heart that has truly been transformed by the gospel will naturally move toward the vulnerable.

Let me be direct with you: if the children around you are not on your heart in some intentional way, it is worth asking why. Not in condemnation — but as an invitation. Jesus stopped for them. He called for them. He held them. He blessed them.

What would it look like for you to do the same?

Don't Keep Them From Coming

The disciples thought they were helping when they turned those children away. They were protecting Jesus' agenda. Managing the situation. Doing what seemed practical.

And Jesus looked at them and said, essentially: you've misunderstood everything.

Don't keep them from coming. Don't manage children out of the margins of your life, your church, your mission. Don't treat them as future disciples while missing the reality that they are present image-bearers of God who need to know they are loved right now.

The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.

Let's make sure they know it.

Your Plan of Action: Loving the Children in Your World

Jesus didn't just talk about welcoming children — He demonstrated it. Here are specific, practical ways to follow His example this week and beyond.

Daily Practices

• Pray specifically for the children in your life — name them, and ask God to show you how to be a blessing to them today.

• When a child is present and wants your attention, practice stopping — fully — to meet them where they are, even for just two minutes.

• Ask yourself: 'Is there a child in my world right now who needs someone to notice them?' Then go notice them.

Weekly Practices

• Volunteer one week in children's ministry at church — even once a quarter — to understand the work happening there and affirm those who serve.

• Read one passage of Scripture aloud with a child. Ask them what they think it means. Listen.

• Write a card or note of encouragement to a child you know. Tell them specifically what you see in them that reflects the image of God.

Monthly Practices

• Identify one child or family in a difficult situation in your community. Pray for them regularly and look for a tangible way to serve.

• Support a ministry or organization that serves vulnerable children — financially, through prayer, or through advocacy.

• Have a conversation with the children's ministry leaders in your church. Ask what they need. Ask how the congregation can better support them.

Ongoing Commitments

• Cultivate a posture of welcome. When children are present — in worship, in your home, in your neighborhood — practice treating their presence as a gift, not an inconvenience.

• Advocate for children within your church community. Ask the hard questions: Are we investing in children's ministry the way Jesus' priorities demand? Are we creating space for children to encounter Jesus — not just be managed until they're old enough to 'really' participate?

• Model the Kingdom. Children absorb what they witness. Let them see you pray, serve, love others, and trust God. You may be the most powerful sermon they ever encounter.

"Leave the children alone, and don't try to keep them from coming to me, because the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."

— Matthew 19:14 CSB

Blessings,

Donna