“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.” (Matthew 18:10 NLT). In order to understand this command,
we need to understand the context of “these little ones”. Going back to verse 1,
we find the disciples asking Jesus who was the greatest in the kingdom of
heaven. Using a child as an example, Jesus explains that whoever humbles
himself like a believing child is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. This, I
believe, establishes the context of childlike faith.
Looking at the verses that follow verse 10, we have the
parable of the lost sheep, but what is a lost sheep and how might they relate to
these little ones that we are not to despise or look down on? Everyone may not
agree with me at this point, but a lost sheep is a person the Father has chosen
for salvation and is yet to be born spiritually. A lost sheep is one who has
been spiritually conceived by God and is in their spiritual gestation period,
growing in spiritual awareness to the point where they are ready to be born spiritually.
These little ones are the lost sheep we are commanded to go
into all the world and find and make disciples of. They are of little faith and
need our help in becoming spiritually mature. We are not to despise them for
their immaturity, but we are to encourage their spiritual growth. Special care for
the health of a child before and after physical birth is necessary as it is for
spiritual birth. Heaven waits with anticipation for these little ones, these
lost sheep, to be found and nourished to the point of spiritual birth.
Prayer
Father, when the context of a verse like this one is
seriously considered, an interpretation may be quite different than first
expected. If we are great in the kingdom of heaven we will be humble servants,
seeking out these little ones in faith to bring into fellowship with
spiritually born believers. We are not to despise them, but patiently provide a
nourishing environment to stimulate spiritual growth. Father, how focused we
have become on our own wants and thus fail to meet the needs of these little
ones. Father, have mercy on us.
See "The Commands of
Jesus" Index to view other commands.
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