Daily Devotional For Tuesday, January 14, 2025
Well, we are all past the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. Most of you are back to work and/or school. Your children and/or grandchildren (if you have them) are back at their school. Psalm 127:3 says this: “Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from Him” (NLT). They are gifts from the Lord the Bible says. Parents have a great responsibility in raising, loving, nurturing, caring for, educating, guiding and disciplining their children. As gifts, children are to be protected and shielded from as much evil and sin as possible.
Unfortunately, in many homes the parents are the ones who bring evil and sin into the lives of their own children, the helpless victims, who pay the price for it. Jesus loved children and when His own disciples tried to keep children from coming to Him, He rebuked them for it. Look at Mark 10:13-16:
“One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could touch and bless them. But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him. (14) When Jesus saw what was happening, He was angry with His disciples. He said to them, `Let the children come to Me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. (15) I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.’ (16) Then He took the children in His arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them” (NLT).
Matthew’s Gospel records a similar story in Matthew 18:1-6:
“About that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, 'Who is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?’ (2) Jesus called a little child to Him and put the child among them. (3) Then He said, `I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. (4) So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. (5) `And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming Me. (6) But if you cause one of these little ones who trust in Me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to have a large millstone tied around your neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea” (NLT).
Jesus gave a frightening warning in these words. The common millstone back then weighed around 3,000 pounds. It was a huge round stone that was pulled by an oxen with ropes and pulleys to grind up wheat, barley, etc. The deepest part of the ocean is the Mariana Trench – some 36,000 feet deep. With a 3,000 pound stone attached to a rope tied around you it is obvious what our Lord thinks should happen to people who hurt, abuse, and cause a child to sin. Children are innocent and helpless. This is why as people of God, we must do all in our power to protect children – all children.
Anyone who says “Jesus is all about love” has not read this passage of Scripture in Matthew 18:1-6. Jesus says very clearly that He values children. He says that if you do anything to cause one of them to choose ungodliness, you’re going to find yourself in a really bad place. Our culture has increasingly shown itself willing to sacrifice children to all kinds of evil and deprivation—physically, mentally, and emotionally.
We live in a culture that will exploit children for sex trafficking, child porn and expose them to foul language, soft porn, sexual content and all kinds of other abuse such as physical, emotional, and psychological. I grew up in such a home and the scars stay with you your whole life. They impact you and all future relationships. Such experiences distort your view of relationships with God and with people.
Jesus has given His people an assignment to protect, care for, and nurture children, and I think we will be called to account for that. I don’t mean just the children in your family or the children who attend your church. I mean all the children. That advocacy will look different for every person and in every community, but the responsibility is ours.
There are some things that, biblically, draw a response from God more quickly than any others. One of those is targeting children. God will not remain silent on the sidelines when we surrender our children to evil and sin! I know we can’t shelter our children forever from all of this, but we should do what we can. For example, parents who give their elementary kids cell phones and think they will be responsible with it are being very foolish and abusive. Today, kids are exposed to porn at very young ages. And there are those who strive to lower the age of consent in our culture so that they can take advantage of those young teens and children.
Author Fleming Rutledge writes this in his book:
“People magazine once undertook a part-serious, part-tongue-in-cheek survey of its readers on the subject of sin. The results were published as a "Sindex," with each sin rated by a sin coefficient. The outcome is both amusing and instructive. Sins like murder, child abuse, and spying against one's country were rated the worst sins in ascending order, with smoking, swearing, and illegal videotaping far down the list. Parking in a handicapped spot was rated surprisingly high, whereas unmarried live-togethers got off lightly. Cutting in front of someone in line was deemed worse than divorce or capital punishment. Predictably, corporate sin was not mentioned at all. The survey concluded, "Overall, readers said they commit about 4.64 sins a month” (Source: Fleming Ruthledge, The Crucifixion, pp. 193-194).
Questions To Consider
- What do you personally do to protect the lives of children?
- If you came through an abusive home, what was the abuse and how did you deal with it? How has it impacted your life today? How is the Lord helping you deal with the effects of your abuse?
- With so many children exposed to so much sin and evil today, if Jesus loves all the children of the world, where is His love and protection for these children?
- In the article given above from Fleming Rutledge’s book, what does that tell you about the heart and soul of America?
Scripture To Meditate On: Matthew 18:10, “Beware that you don’t look down on any of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels are always in the presence of my heavenly Father” (NLT).
Prayer To Pray: “Heavenly Father, I intercede for the unborn, for the children, for the next generation to be protected from the destructive forces that are arrayed against them. Help Your people surround them with effective prayers for deliverance into Your purposes for their lives. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
I love you Southside!--Pastor Kelly