At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
2 He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. 3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 18:1-4
Luke 9:46-47 gives us more insight into what spurred the disciples question. They had been arguing about who would be greatest among them in the Kingdom of heaven. Therefore, they went to meet Jesus to ask and clarify their position. I think asking Jesus questions is great and so I think it valid that the disciples went to ask Jesus the question on their mind.
A friend of mine said that, it was and I believe it is a pointer that Jesus is approachable. We can ask Him questions as they come to our minds, He is a friend, the best friend we have and can ever have.
As they argued among themselves and then asked Jesus the question, Jesus saw beyond their lips and the question they asked. Jesus knew that their minds, motives and reasons for the argument wasn’t pure and it was nowhere Christlike. Therefore, Jesus in His infinite wisdom corrected them with an illustration.
Luke 9:47 tells us that Jesus Christ brought a child among them to elaborate and perhaps give them a visual representation of the kind of change He expected of them. And I strongly believe that the Holy Spirit captured this event in the bible for disciples of old,present disciples of Christ and disciples to come so that we could all learn from it, stay transformed and run with it till Jesus comes for us on the last day.
It is apparent that the Kingdom of heaven was of somewhat importance to the disciples. It mattered so much that they were willing to enter heaven in grand style, perhaps take the first position in the kingdom of heaven. It was great that entering the kingdom of heaven mattered so much to them but the ways in which they thought about it was most likely going to lead them astray; far away from the kingdom of heaven they were aimed for.
They were thinking about the kingdom of heaven as some form of competition which I strongly believe isn’t. Jesus had to qucikly call His disciples to order before they allowed unhealthy, uncalled for strife and competition consume them.
I Imagine that if Jesus had said to them that the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven will be one who works about a million miracles, wins a billion souls for Christ and so on, it would have spurred so much strife and unnecessary competition among them which may have killed the church even before it started.
It is great that Jesus Christ addressed them there and there. It is also a reminder to us that as Children of God,we remain children of God. No matter how old we think we may be or no matter how great or blessed God may have made us, we would always be His children.
My mother says to me often that no matter how old I may become, she would always remain my mother. Which means she would always be older, I would always have to show her respect, stay humble to learn from her.
I perceive that in this same way, God is saying to us that He will always be our father.
With that said, I will like to point out salient things that stood out for me in Matthew 18:1-4
The Kingdom of heaven is the goal for every child of God; the perceived competition among the disciples to be the greatest there is a pointer to the insight they must have gained from Jesus about heaven. They must have imagined how beautiful heaven is and surely did not want to miss out on living eternally there. They didn’t only want to live eternally there, each of them wanted to be the greatest there, perhaps to control the stash of gold there(jokes).
But really, the Kingdom of heaven is and should be every believer’s goal just like the disciples.
Our Mindset and Demeanor here on earth will impact the achievement of the goal to make Heaven; Similar to every form of success that man may want to achieve, it all starts from within us- Our mindsets which usually translates into our actions. And like Jesus has pointed out, having the mindset of surpassing someone or being in competition with someone isn’t the mindset we need to achieve our goal of heaven.
This form of mindset isn’t Christlike in any form but powered by the flesh. God has made us so unique in such a way that we all function simultaneously in the body of Christ, so there is absolutely no need to compete.
Just like a child, the Mindset and Demeanor needed to achieve our goal is Humility & Lowliness; For us to grow and stay on track to achieve our goal of heaven, we need to always remember that we are God’s children and we should become like little children. Not in a childish manner but in a childlike manner.
From my limited knowledge of little children, they are the cutest bundles of joy to grace the surface of the earth. They do not bother themselves with the worries and cares of this world. When they start to get worried or feel some pain they cry to their parents or guardian without stopping till they get what they want. They are so eager to learn and so quick to forgive people that may hurt them.Most importantly, they do not care about any form of competition, they just seem to be in their own cute little bubble living and enjoying the life God has given them.
They are just so cute and adorable, not smeared with the darkness in this world. This is how God wants us to be! He wants us to cast all our cares and worries to Him, forgive the people that hurt us so easily. Most importantly, to remain humble- this positions us to receive lessons and blessings from God constantly because the word of God tells us that God resists the proud. He more or less can not work with the proud.
I’d like to mention that the key to staying Childlike is through the power of the Holy Spirit. Let us staying engaging the Holy spirit to help us remain childlike
Moreso, there are so many benefits that come with being childlike. It guarantees our
- Peace with God
- Inner peace
- Peace with men
- Long lasting joy
- Ability to go about the good works of our father
- And so on…..
May the good Lord help us to remain childlike and also enter the kingdom of heaven in Jesus name.