Too Important

Matthew 19: ¹³ Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them.

¹⁴ Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” ¹⁵ When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.

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Prepping for the meeting was difficult. I only had fifteen minutes with the president of the company and I had to make every minute worth it. “Maybe I will be ‘too important’ to meet with people for long stretches of time someday.” I thought to myself.

• I sought to make a name for myself.
• I wanted to be “important” to other people.
• I desired to be in the exclusive crowd.

Exclusion is great when I am in the “in crowd.” I mean when I am getting the fringe benefits that others aren’t, it feels wonderful, so much so that I craved more. BUT GOD wants me to act differently.

• GOD wants me to welcome people with open arms.
• GOD wants me to make time for people who cannot do for themselves.
• GOD wants me to be available for the little children.

The disciples were trying to make JESUS exclusive to “important” people. These little kids had nothing to offer and JESUS could heal people back from the dead so the disciples shooed them away. JESUS illustrates how open I should be.

HE wants me to make time for people and not see levels or classes of humans. In fact, GOD wants me to make others more important than I make myself. The more I grow others, the more GOD grows me.

• Are you trying to be important?
• Do you want to exclude people away from you or the group you are in?
• Can you stop trying to be important and point people to the ONE who is, namely JESUS?