Suffer the Little Children

There are just some verses in the Bible that should be permanently translated in the language of the King James Bible regardless of the translation being read. Matthew 19:14 is one of them…”…suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me…” I love this verse written in 1611 Old English language because it makes a poignant point. If we don’t suffer (allow) the little children to come to Jesus, the little children will suffer when they are young and old! In this message we are going to explore three common ways that we as adults hinder children from coming to Christ. And those three are: when we live duplicitous lives, when we live aimless lives, and when we live materialistic lives. If you back up a chapter to 18 we find a warning by Jesus, that anyone who causes one of these little ones to fall into sin, it would be better for millstone to be tied around their neck and thrown into the sea! That millstone was likely five feet in diameter and weighed 3,000 pounds. So do you think Jesus is serious about how our lives impact children? And as we keep reading in chapter 19 of Matthew, we come to the story of the rich young ruler. I don’t think this story is being told to us in such close proximity to verse 14 by coincidence. It’s almost as thought Jesus is showing us what happens to that child who was hindered when they were young…they grow up choosing things over Jesus. So let me ask you a question, are you a hinderance or a help to children coming to Jesus? Because that millstone is still heavy!