Being a Child in God’s Kingdom

Jesus said, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.” – Matthew 19:14

I don’t know about the family you grew up in, but mine was a mixture of discipline, trust, and freedom. Both of my parents were dedicated Christians, and Dad was unwavering in his commitment to God. Mom was, too, but not as overtly as Dad. My sister and I tried, in our own ways, to please our parents while doing what we wanted to do. That rarely ended well!

Knowing the will of Mom and Dad was easy – keep the golden rule – “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets¹” – and the ten commandments², and to love God³. It took a while for us to understand all ten commandments. Oh, and whatever either of our parents told us to do was covered by one of those commands of God. 😉

These commandments our parents firmly placed on us. We learned the practical side of them through empirical data. If we got in trouble, we were given ample time to figure out both the commandment we broke and the action we did that broke it. Occasionally, corporal punishment was added to drive the point home.

As long as our parents saw us living within these commandments, they trusted us and allowed us the freedom to hang out with our friends and participate in school activities. But if they found that we had broken their trust, we were punished, and it took a while for us to rebuild that trust.

This was the way children were raised when I was growing up. Looking back, I think it was effective. Once, when I was in 3rd grade, I took a bath but didn’t wash my hair. When I got dressed and walked into the living room, Mom asked if I’d washed my hair. For some unfathomable reason, I said yes. To show a united front, Dad jumped in and told me I hadn’t washed it. At this point, I thought, “That’s my story and I’m sticking to it⁴.” After a couple more minutes of being grilled, I broke down and told the truth. As you can see, I learned a valuable lesson, one I remember over sixty years later!

When Jesus said, “Let the children come to me,” He did not say let only the ones who behave themselves come to me. What Jesus was telling us had nothing to do with how good or bad the children were. It had to do with trust.

When Jesus said this, the children lived in an occupied country, controlled by one of the most powerful empires in history. Yet, the kids were not worried about the Romans or possible changes to their government. They weren’t even concerned about the economy, taxes, or any of the topics that adults worried about. Why would they? They were kids. Their world was built on faith. They were light-hearted and joyful. They trusted their parents to provide for their needs, protect them from harm, and love them. These aspects are what Jesus is telling us we need to be in God’s kingdom.

We don’t earn our way into God’s kingdom. Jesus paid it all⁵. We can’t enter God’s kingdom if we still fear the kingdom that had held us captive⁶. And as for love, God is love⁷, and God so loved the world that He gave His only Son⁸. What love can compete with that? For those of us who entered God’s kingdom with childlike faith, let’s not give up the great blessing of being a child in the kingdom of God. Don’t look back, there’s nothing worth seeing.

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Footnotes

1. Matthew 7:12 – Ask, Seek, Knock. (n.d.). Bible Hub. Retrieved June 28, 2025, from https://biblehub.com/matthew/7-12.htm ↩︎
2. Deuteronomy 5:6-21 – English Standard Version. (n.d.). Bible Gateway. Retrieved June 28, 2025, from https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%205%3A6-21&version=ESV ↩︎
3. Mark 12:30 – New International Version. (n.d.). Bible Gateway. Retrieved June 28, 2025, from https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%2012%3A30&version=NIV ↩︎
4. Collin Raye – That’s My Story. (n.d.). Genius. Retrieved June 28, 2025, from https://genius.com/Collin-raye-thats-my-story-lyrics ↩︎
5. Romans 5:8 – Christ’s Sacrifice for the Ungodly. (n.d.). Bible Hub. Retrieved July 1, 2025, from https://biblehub.com/romans/5-8.htm ↩︎
6. Matthew 10:28 – Fear God Alone. (n.d.). Bible Hub. Retrieved July 1, 2025, from https://biblehub.com/matthew/10-28.htm ↩︎
7. 1 John 4:16 – Love Comes from God. (n.d.). Bible Hub. Retrieved July 1, 2025, from https://biblehub.com/1_john/4-16.htm ↩︎
8. John 3:16 – For God So Loved. (n.d.). Bible Hub. Retrieved July 1, 2025, from https://biblehub.com/john/3-16.htm ↩︎