Christ's Care for Children

God has taken to Himself, by adoption, all His loved ones as His children, and He is forever our Father. We will never age out of His house, and He will never give us up in His love, or cease to provide for and protect us all.

Sometimes we think we might "grow up" and leave God's house - like the prodigal son, we demand our share of the stuff and strike out on our own, but the Father will always bring us back.

Unlike the elder brother in that parable, our Lord Jesus never castigates us as lawless before our Father. He never urges our Father to let us go or kick us out of the Father's house. He never begrudges the banquet the Father continually throws for His little ones.

Christ's solicitude toward the children is remarkable. During His ministry, when parents would bring their little ones to Jesus, the disciples begrudged their wasting the Savior's valuable time. After all, they had important work bringing in the kingdom, and no time for the children to get under foot and in the way.

But Jesus instructed all the Lord's people that we must come to God as little children - no self-reliance, no strength, no resources, but only trusting in the mighty Redeemer to rescue us from our sins.

Jesus warned us that whoever assaults or leads astray one of the little ones who trust in Him will be utterly destroyed in judgment, for, He stated, the angels represent the children before the face of God the Father continually.

In a wider sense, Christ's solicitude to the little children is His solicitude for all the Father's children. If we must come to Christ as little children, then His care and love and tenderness necessarily extend to each of us who are the Father's!