13 People brought their small children to Jesus, so that he could lay his hands ong them to bless them. But the followers told the people to stop bringing their children to him. 14 Jesus saw what happened. He did not like his followers telling the children not to come. So he said to them, “Let the little children come to me. Don’t stop them, because God’s kingdomhbelongs to people who are like these little children. 15 The truth is, you must accept God’s kingdom like a little child accepts things, or you will never enter it.” 16 Then Jesus held the children in his arms. He laid his hands on them and blessed them.
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“No one should choose death.” Allie, 9
“God gave us a choice because he didn’t want to force everyone to love him.” Mariah, 8
“God wanted to see if we loved him enough to choose to live with him.” Shelby, 10
“The reason God gave us a choice is to teach us that we can’t live without him.” Casey, 12
When Jesus blessed the little children, he made one thing very clear. Everyone needs to choose the kingdom of heaven and accept it as a little child does. Children don’t try to figure out complex things. They just accept them. When you’re a baby you have to believe that someone is going to come through with the food and diapers every day. You have to live by faith because you don’t know how to get things for yourself. Even young children have to keep believing in their parents to survive. In a similar way, we don’t know how to get into heaven by ourselves. Only God could provide the way.
Jesus said it’s easy to choose spiritual life over spiritual death. A lot of people today have problems thinking about their life after death because it seems so far away. Many people worry so much about their daily problems, they don’t take time to think about God. The good news for these people is that God is very patient. The Bible says, “But God is being patient with you. He doesn’t want anyone to be lost” (2 Peter 3:9). God wants everyone to choose spiritual life over spiritual death. Just as children who have good parents believe in them, God wants us to believe in him. The choice is yours.
Think About This: Of all the choices you will ever make, believing in the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior is the most important.
Memorize This Truth: “People who believe in God’s Son are not judged guilty. But people who do not believe are already judged, because they have not believed in God’s only Son” (John 3:18).
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