Today’s Devotion
Topic: Receive The Kingdom Like A Child!
Text: Luke 10: 25- 29
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” 27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.” 28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” 29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Amen.
Beloved it is true what Jesus said in Mark 10: 15 that, “anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”
A child receives basic teachings and instructions about life from his/her parents and accepts them as the way to follow. All the questions he/she’s likely to ask stem from a genuine desire to totally understand what he/she’s being taught. Once the understanding is complete, that’s all; he/she just imbibes it.
How wonderful it would be for us too beloved, if we could accepted the Kingdom of God like children; seeking to know more and understand more of God’s word because we love Him and accept the Bible as the standard for our lives. But will we do that? No! We rather prefer to complicate the word with philosophies and intellectualism stemming from the ill motive of “flawing” the word of God so that we feel JUSTIFIED to continue in sin.
From the passage above, we see this attitude displayed so well by the “EXPERT IN THE LAW” who approached Jesus. Remember his motive, very sadly, was to TEST Jesus not to learn eternal truth and gain salvation for his soul.
He asked Jesus how he could inherit eternal life. The Lord Jesus refered him to what was written in the law. And tells him “DO THIS AND YOU WILL LIVE”. Instead of thanking God for this priceless truth received from the Master (Himself), he rather pulls a surprise by asking “AND WHO IS MY NEIGHBOUR?”. The bible explains that the motive for this question was to JUSTIFY HIMSELF.
Kindly note that although the Lord Jesus went ahead to explain to him, for our benefit, who our neighbour ought to be, that still didn’t make right the motive and attitude with which this “EXPERT OF THE LAW” approached the word of God.
Beloved some of us do same or worse. We would rather argue against the Word than be blessed by it. Meanwhile, it is common knowledge that the word of God is SPIRIT and LIFE (John 6: 63). The many who receive its truths with their spirits are transformed into the image Christ. However those who receive it intellectually, find themselves challenging it truths to justify their love for sin. In the end, they reduce this word of Power into a history book of errors and walk away more wretched, poor and blind than they were before debating the Word.
Meditate on this Word and begin to pray. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you a heart that receives the word of God like a little child. You may not be known by the world as the scholar whose intellectualism “flawed” the bible in public but died without the certainty of what will happen to his soul. Rather, as the believer who by loving his God and neighbour wholeheartedly, gained eternal life for his soul. Which one of those would you rather be?
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