Musing through Matthew – The Humility Of a Child (Matthew 18:1-5)

Let us muse again today from Matthew 18: 1 – 5 and the theme of Jesus The King. In our verses for study we find our Lord teaches us truths about the humility of a child. The disciples ask a question that leads our Lord to this teaching. They ask who is the greatest in the kingdom. Jesus’s mind was on the cross and humbling Himself, their mind was upon being great in the kingdom. The answer to their question was by way of an illustration. Our Lord calls a little child to come unto Him. I wonder if He didn’t smile when the child came willingly without hesitation. He set the child in the center of them and said unless you come as a little child you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Charles Spurgeon said “to rise to the greatness of Grace, we must go down to the littlest, the simplicity, and the Trustfulness of childhood”. There are two marks of one great in the kingdom. One is to come as a child. The other mark is to be willing to humble ourselves and take care of those like a child who cannot take care for themselves. Those who receive helpless children will soon realize they are so much like them spiritually and in need of the Lord’s help.