Sermon Transcript
The following is a lightly edited transcript generated from the audio; it may contain small errors.
- Matthew 18 and Mark 9
- Jesus’ Attitude Toward the Little Ones
- Contrary to the Pagan Culture
- The Old Testament Ethos
- What Jesus Taught About Children
- To Receive a Child Is to Receive Christ
- Jesus Was Greatly Displeased
- Love the Little Ones
- Closing Blessing and Prayer
Matthew 18 and Mark 9
God is good, amen.
Let’s open our Bibles to Matthew 18. As you turn there, I do want to encourage you to sign up for the Foundation Conference. We have a great group of presenters. Dr. David Bond is really good, I really know. Now, we really have some great presenters. Dr. Perry from Covenant Seminary, J.T. Thomas, you know Rob Welch, I’ll speak briefly, Mike, Justus, Hannah, and others. It’s gonna be a really, really good conference. I encourage you to go ahead and sign up. If you can’t afford it, talk to us, we’ll take care of it. We don’t want you to miss it on that account. Matthew 18, you all there? It says in verse one, at that time the disciples came to Jesus saying, who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one little child like this in my name receives me. And whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of offenses, for offenses must come, but woe to the man by whom the offenses come. If your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life, lame or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into the everlasting fire. But if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you, it is better for you to enter life with one eye rather than having two eyes to be cast into hellfire. Take heed. That means listen, beware, pay attention, that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost. What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying? And if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not stray. Even so, it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. And then in Matthew 19 and verse 13 we read, then little children were brought to him that he might put his hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, let the little children come to me and do not forbid them, for such is the kingdom of heaven. And he laid his hands on them and departed from there. Now turn to the gospel of Mark chapter nine. In Mark 9 we have essentially parallel passages but with a few things added.
Because Mark likes to add a fine touch to some of these accounts that we don’t find in the other synoptic gospels.
So in Mark 9, starting in verse 33, it says, Then He, meaning Jesus, came to Capernaum. And when He was in the house, He asked them, What was it you disputed among yourselves on the road? But they kept silent. Why? For on the road they disputed among themselves who would be the greatest? Now you have to remember this is happening as Jesus is nearing Jerusalem, which is to say that he had set his face like a flint to the cross and he’s heading to Jerusalem knowing he’s going to be rejected, knowing that He’s walking into a trap, if you will, knowing he’s going to die. The shadow of the cross is cast upon him and the disciples, even though Jesus had told, told them repeatedly, I’m going to be rejected, I’m going to die, I will rise again, they didn’t get it. They were arguing who would be the greatest. Verse 35, and he sat down and he called the twelve and said to them, if anyone desires to be first, he should be last of all and servant of all. Then he took a little child and set him in the midst of them. And when he had taken him in his arms, he said to them, whoever receives one of these little children in my name, receives me. And whoever receives Me receives not Me but Him who sent Me. And then we go on in chapter 10, and it says, and then they brought little children to him that he might touch them, that is, lay his hands on them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them. And this is the thing that Mark adds that Matthew and Luke leave out. But when Jesus saw it, he was greatly displeased, which is a nice way of saying he was mad. We’ll talk a little bit more about what that word means in a moment. And he said to them, let the children come to me and do not forbid them, for of such is the kingdom of God. Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter into it. And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and he blessed them.
Jesus’ Attitude Toward the Little Ones
This morning I want to talk briefly about Jesus’ attitude toward the little ones, and it’s partly in light of all that we’ve spoken about recently about being a pro-life community. You know, someone said to me a week ago, after hearing the presentations we’ve given about the Zoe ministry, and about Thrive, and homeless ministry and the orphanage and all the things that we’re doing as a community. They said, you know, years ago I went to a church that said they were pro-life, but in fact they were just anti-abortion. In other words, they said abortion was wrong. They declared that, but they really didn’t, they didn’t reach out in affirming life. They weren’t helping those that were in need. And so that’s the fundamental difference. We can be against abortion, but are we for life? And that is evidence and not simply what we say, but what we do and how we live and who we care for. And here we see Jesus cares for the little ones. He cares for children. And it’s been argued by some social philosophers that the way that a society treats its children is really a mark of its civilization. And I think that’s true of a culture, but I think it’s true also of a church. I think it’s true of any community. The value we place on children is a reflection of who we are. And certainly it’s a reflection as a church of whether or not we’ve really understood and embraced the heart of Jesus. Or maybe it’s better to say, maybe it’s a reflection of whether we have allowed Jesus to embrace our heart and to give us a heart that is like his. Well, we see here Jesus’ attitude toward the little ones.
Contrary to the Pagan Culture
And the first comment I want to make is that Jesus’ attitude toward children was contrary to the surrounding pagan culture. If time permitted, I could give a long list of quotations from ancient philosophers, whether Plato or Aristotle or Juvenal or others who clearly endorsed and even recommended abortion, and abandonment, and infanticide. They, it was a common practice not only in Greco-Roman culture, but most pagan cultures to limit population by either aborting children or by killing them after they were born. That is to say that in most pagan cultures, children were simply not valued. They were not important. They were seen more as a burden than a blessing. And Jesus, of course, has a view contrary to this pagan culture.
The Old Testament Ethos
Jesus’ view of children and the value he placed on them was really a reflection of the fact that Jesus embraced the Old Testament teaching on children and family. Let me just give you a couple examples. Go to Psalm 127, and we’re going to come back here to Mark. In Psalm 127, and Psalm 128, here’s what the Psalmist says. In verse 1 of 127, unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. Unless the Lord guards a city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows. For so He gives His beloved sleep. In other words, it’s vain to worry, to be anxious, so anxious that you can’t sleep. Because if the Lord doesn’t build, it won’t be built if the Lord doesn’t protect. It won’t be protected no matter how much anxiety we have, no matter how hard we work, without the Lord, it is all in vain. Amen.
Then he says in verse 3, Behold, children are a heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is his reward. Notice the positive statements regarding children and childbirth. Not children are a burden from the Lord. Not children are a cross from the Lord. Children are a heritage from the Lord. And some Hebrew scholars argue that it really should read children are a heritage or the heritage of the Lord, meaning they’re really the Lords. He owns them. They’re his heritage. And the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them. They shall not be ashamed, but shall speak with their enemies in the gate. Psalm 128, verse 1, Blessed is everyone who fears Jehovah, who walks in his ways. When you eat the labor of your hands, you shall be happy, and it shall be well with you. Your wife shall be like, like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house. Your children, like olive plants all around your table. Behold, thus shall a man be blessed who fears the Lord. The Lord bless you out of Zion, and may you see the good of Jerusalem all the days of your life. Yes, and may you see your children’s children. Peace be upon Israel. Amen.
The picture here is of a man who walks with God, who fears God, and one of the blessings that God gives this man is he gives him a fruitful home, a fruitful family. His children are such that they are like olive plants. Have you ever seen vines grow up on a wall? The picture here is the idea of these olive plants wrapping themselves around the table and the inside of the home. And it’s a picture of fruitfulness and blessing from God. And this ethos, if you will, this attitude toward children, permeates the entire Old Testament. We could spend literally all morning looking at different scriptures, which communicate this very positive attitude about little children and about family life. And because of that, there was a strong ethos in Judaism which recognized and appreciated the value of children. One author said this, no nation has ever set the child in the midst, meaning of its community, more deliberately than the Jews did.
It would not be wrong to say that for the Jew the child was the most important person in the community. It was the Rabbi Judah the Holy who uttered the famous saying, the world exists only by the breath of school children. Another rabbi thought of God as saying, Dearer to me is the breath of school children than the savor of sacrifice. With such an ideal it is obvious that education should stand very high in the list of Jewish priorities. In 1 Chronicles 16 22 we read, touch not mine anointed, and this verse, touch not mine anointed, was interpreted by the rabbis, meaning do not touch my children. They were seen as the anointed ones. It says in the Talmud, so long as there are children in the schools, Israel’s enemies cannot prevail against her. Of such importance was education regarded because the children were highly regarded. It was held that even the building of the temple could be interrupted before education was interrupted. Perish the sanctuary, but let the children go to school. Josephus, a famous Jewish author, writes, our ground is good, and we work it to the utmost, but our chief ambition is for the education of our children. And this ethos permeates the Old Testament, and it is seen, therefore, in rabbinical teaching and Jewish teaching. And it’s seen even in the fact that when you actually study the Old Testament there are nine different words that are used for children. And this tells us that the Jews paid particular attention and were particularly fond of children. And so they have different words for the different stages of child life. For example, the newborn is called yeled, or the feminine is yaldah. As a child gets older, they have a word called yonek, which literally means a suckling, of course this is the nursing child. They have, or we might say the babe, right? The nursing babe or baby. They have another word called olel, which also means sucking, but it also means asking for bread. And so it’s this idea of a baby who’s now getting to the point where milk isn’t quite enough and now they want to begin to have solid food. A fourth word is the word gamul, which means weaned one. And in Hebrew culture, children were weaned about the age two, and they actually, when they would wean a child, they would hold a feast. Because that was a big turning point in the child’s life. And then the child went from gamul to being a taf. Taf means to cling. Do you have any two or three year olds by your side? Maybe even four year olds? Always holding onto your leg, holding onto your pants, holding onto your skirt, right? That’s because they cling. They’re taf. Another word is na’ar, or youth, which literally means to shake off. That sounds like the young people I know. They want to shake off parental authority, don’t they? They want to. And then we have the word bachur, which means ripened one. And it’s used of a young warrior. And so we see that in their attention to the development of children, the Jews were very keen on the life of the child because they highly valued children. And they did so because God, let me say it, God highly values children. So when we look at the teaching of Jesus, we ought not to be surprised [audio unclear] If we understand the Bible, the Old Testament, the ethos, and then the Jewish ethos that developed out of that, what ought to surprise us, rather, is the disciples, because they were raised in Jewish homes, they were raised in this community where it was clear that children were highly-valued, children were, as Barclay said, in the center of communal life, And yet, we see that when they brought children to Jesus, the disciples resisted and didn’t want Jesus to be bothered. More about that in just a moment.
What Jesus Taught About Children
To make some additional observations about Jesus, statements and attitude toward children. Jesus assumes in his teaching that a father, he assumes that a father will love and care for his children. As a matter of fact, in Matthew 7, he says this, really Matthew 7 and elsewhere, but he says this, he says, he’s encouraging us to pray and he says, ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you for everyone who asks receives and he who seeks finds that to him who knocks will be opened. Or what man is there among you who if his son asks for bread will give him a stone? Well, this is a rhetorical question and the implied answer is he won’t do that. He won’t give his son a stone, he’ll give him bread. If his son is hungry, he’ll feed his son. Or if he asks for a fish, he will give him a serpent. Now if my son asks for a fish, I won’t give him a fish because I don’t like fish. I might give him a steak. But I won’t give him a serpent. Verse 11, if you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him? So his teaching of prayer is based on the assumption that a father will care for and provide for his son. Jesus also taught something very interesting in Matthew 18. He says in Matthew 18 that God is so concerned about children that he’s assigned to them an angel to watch over them. And this is called in some circles a guardian angel. Some people don’t like that term. That term is not a biblical phrase. But the concept is clearly here in the teaching of Jesus. He says in Matthew 18 verse 10, Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones. Why? He says, For I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven, which implies a particular care on God’s part. And the idea here that’s communicated to see that for them to see the face of the Father means they have access to God and so their angel is reporting, if you will, to God. This is the image. They’re looking out for the child and they’re letting God know how the [audio unclear] who look out [audio unclear] Yeah, this is fine. It says in verse two, it says most certain verse one. So the, at [audio unclear] No, because there was only one perfect child and that was the child Jesus. Jesus was the only perfect kid. Man, I wish I could have been Joseph. The perfect kid, right? No perfect kids. But clearly children were, Jesus is using them as an illustration because they’re, I believe because of their dependence and their need and their humility, if you will, because little children are fully dependent on their father. Little children innocently say, can I have food? Can I have something to drink? And they always look to their father or mother. And that’s what we ought to do as Christians. We ought to look to God for every one of our needs, for our salvation and everything that we need in the Christian life as a child looks to its father. And by using the child, of course, Jesus honors and shows his great respect for little children, His love for them. Also, Jesus says that to stumble a child is a very grievous sin. In Matthew 18, he says in verse six, whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. And then Jesus goes on to talk about hell. Clearly to offend or stumble a little child is one of the greatest sins in the eyes of Jesus. And it is in that context that he speaks of hell clearly to impress upon us the gravity of causing a child to sin, of misleading a child, of offending a child. And I have to say, unfortunately, to my great sorrow, I have seen kids raised in Christian homes who walk away from the faith, and if you ask them why, they will quite plainly tell you it is the hypocrisy of their parents. And I’ve seen Christian kids mistreated by their parents, abused by their parents. I’ve seen Christian kids told one thing by their parents, while their parents live a completely different way. And those kids are scandalized. That’s the word in Greek. They are stumbled. They are offended. And thus, they turn away. Now, there are other reasons. Not every child that walks away from the faith is because of their parents’ conduct. But there are far too many cases when that is true. And as parents, we are called to raise our children in the faith. And we tell our children to honor father and mother because this is the first command with promise. But I would exhort new parents here. If you want your children to honor you, then be honorable. Don’t make it hard for them to respect you by how you live, and especially by how you treat them. There’s no place in the Christian home for yelling, for screaming, for name calling, for anger, for strife.
It is not according to the Word of God. It is not the fruit of the Spirit. And it causes children to stumble. Paul tells us, do not provoke your children to wrath. lest they be discouraged and they faint. They give up. They don’t care anymore. And they walk away.
To Receive a Child Is to Receive Christ
Lastly, Jesus says that to receive a child is to receive Christ Himself. [audio unclear] Whoever receives one like this in My name receives Me. Go to Mark chapter 9. In Mark 9 we have the parallel account. When he said, what were you arguing about? They kept silent. In Mark 9:35, He said, If anyone desires to be first, he should be last of all and servant of all.
Then He took a little child and set him in the midst of them, and when He had taken him in His arms, He said to them, Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives not Me but Him who sent Me.
So Jesus identifies both himself and his father with the little ones, And he does this also in Matthew when he’s talking about the final judgment, and he’s talking about the naked, the hungry, the prisoner. And he talks about how we treat the least of these, a very, very important phrase in Jesus’ teaching: the least of these. And he identifies with the least of them. Because you see Jesus, even though people flocked to him for healing, in reality, he was despised and rejected of men. He was abused and he was cast aside.
So he identifies with the marginalized, with the poor, with the needy, with the despised. And he says, essentially, that if we love him, that we will love the little ones. And if we receive the little ones, we receive him, and if we receive him, we receive the father. It’s reminiscent of what John said in his first epistle. He says, if a man says, I love God, but he hates his brother, that man is a liar. Because you see, we can’t love God and hate people. We can’t love God and despise children. They don’t go together. Jesus says that if we love Him, if we receive Him, we’ll receive them. Because He identifies with them, and He values them. So in Mark 10, we’re going to wrap up here. In Mark 10, some parents come. They want Jesus to lay His hands on them, bless them. And they brought little children to Him that He might touch them, but the disciples rebuked those who brought them. Verse 14. But when Jesus saw it, he was greatly displeased and said to them, Let the little children come to Me and do not forbid them, for of such is the kingdom of God. Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter into it. So He took them up in His arms, laid His hands on them, and He blessed them.
Jesus Was Greatly Displeased
Now what’s striking to me about this, my concluding observation, is that when the disciples and their attitude is a little bit inexplicable to me, although some commentators say, well, they were getting close to Jerusalem and clearly Jesus was feeling the strain of what was happening and they were trying to protect him from, you know, and so they intervened here and tried to keep the children away because, you know, he needed kind of be protected. Jesus doesn’t need you to protect him. We got that straight? He doesn’t need our help. But what’s striking about this is that here it says that when Jesus saw what they did, now Matthew doesn’t comment on this, and Luke doesn’t, but Mark does, he says when Jesus saw what they did it says he was greatly displeased. Now that word here is only used twice of Jesus, and they’re both in the book of Mark. And it’s a word which is, you really need more than one word to describe it, because It’s kind of a mixture of anguish, maybe a little sorrow and anger all in one. It’s not just being mad. It’s being grieved and mad at the same time. And it’s only used one other place, and it’s in the book of Mark. And do you remember where it is? Because I talked about it before. You forgot. I’ll remind you then. It’s in the account when Jesus comes to the synagogue, and there’s a man there with a withered hand. And he says, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not? And you know what the Pharisees said? Nothing. They kept silent. They kept silent. That’s striking. And I’ve pondered what do these two texts have in common, that Jesus would respond in the same way and that Mark would note this by using that same word. And quite frankly, I’m not sure, but I want to offer an opinion. Because I think what we see in common in both cases with the Pharisees and even with Jesus’ own disciples is simply this, a hardness of heart. the face of need. A hardness of heart in the face of need. God cares about those who are broken, amen? And so when he saw the man with the withered hand, well, He intended to, He desired to heal him. When God sees children, he sees them as those those who are weak, which they are, those [audio unclear] of the needy. He is a defender of the poor. He cares about people who are in need, whatever that need may be. And the thing these texts have in common is that the Pharisees who were official representatives of the Jews ought to have known better. They ought to have displayed a caring, shepherding heart toward the man with the withered hand. Here, Jesus’ disciples who had been walking with Him for over two years should have known and should have reflected the heart of Jesus in this situation. As a matter of fact, the account here in chapter 10 where it says that He was greatly displeased, which means he was grieved and angry at them, it follows what Jesus had already told them.
He’d already taught them the value of children. He’d already used the child to illustrate his kingdom. He had already said to them, if you receive them, you’re receiving me. And then what happened? Not long after that, people bring their kids and the disciples push them away. Well clearly, they didn’t understand what he was saying. Or at least, they weren’t applying what He had taught them. Because if they had understood and applied what Jesus said here in Mark 9, they would not have turned the children away in Mark 10. I don’t want to be too hard on them because in reality we all do this at times. The truth is we all believe more than we live. We all profess more than we practice. But [audio unclear] more intertwined, and this is integrity, the literal meaning of integrity. If we’re walking this way where what we profess and what we practice are opposed, then we’re in trouble, right? I think what happens in many a Christian life is they continue to grow in knowledge, but they’re not growing in practice. So instead of taking off, they’re just not going anywhere. They’re not applying what they’re professing. So we need to be like Jesus, amen, and not like the disciples. And we need to allow the word of God to establish our priorities, number one. But not just in what we say. It’s not enough to say, I’m pro-life, it’s not enough to say God cares about the poor or it’s not enough to say God really cares about children if we don’t apply that, if we don’t live it out in our lives, in our community. Amen? Because if we don’t apply it, then we’re doing this or maybe we’re doing that, but we’re not doing this. We are not maturing. Professing is easy. Practicing is hard. But Jesus didn’t teach us these things so that we simply had a book of theology to talk about every Sunday morning. Jesus taught us these things that we might walk them out and live them out in our lives.
Love the Little Ones
So Jesus loves the little ones and he cares about the little ones in our midst. Now if you’re a parent and I say, do you love your kids? You’re like, sure. Well, then see to it. Then see to it that your love is biblical. But Jesus is calling us to more than that because Jesus didn’t have any kids of His own, but He still loved the children. The disciples weren’t rejecting their own children when they came to Jesus. It was other people’s kids. Right? So when Jesus calls us to love the little ones it’s not just, he’s not just saying love your own kids because that’s a natural virtue. That doesn’t take a lot of grace. But he’s saying more than that because he’s saying to love the little ones as we would love him, meaning not only our own children but the children in our community, to care for the children in our community, to love them, to nurture them, to bless them so that they might know that God loves them, amen? That they might know that God cares enough for them that he has an angel watching over them. And the Lord tells us that if we do this we’re receiving him and we are receiving his father. That’s the value that he places on our conduct and our reception of the little ones.
Closing Blessing and Prayer
I want to do two things this morning as we close. First, any young children here, have you come up front? I want to pray a blessing on you. We’re We’re all going to pray a blessing on you. By the way, I have some candy here too to entice you to come up here. The magic black bag is here. I’m going to pray a blessing on you. Here, you can sit on the chair or sit on the floor. Just sit down real quick. What a crew, amen.
You got to sit right here on my lap. Oh my gosh, don’t I look like Santa? I’m preparing for retirement. Okay, and remember, remember, remember what Jesus said.
Jesus took a child, he put the child on his lap, and he said, if you receive this child, you receive me. And if you receive me, you receive my father.
Not a child in the abstract. Not a theoretical child, not a figurative child. This child. This child is to you, Jesus. All of these kids are to us, Jesus. That’s what he’s saying. yourself. How we treat them is how we treat Him. So I want to pray for them and ask God to bless them, but I think we need to do more than just pray, because the Word of God tells us we are to love not in words only but also in deeds, in our actions. So I have clipboards, there are clipboards here I want to pass around right there behind you. Why don’t you guys pass them out. One on each aisle of the church.
Take it over there, sweetie. Over that side. Now we’re going to see if we’re going to obey the teaching of Jesus. We either believe it or we don’t. Because if we care about our children, and not just our own children, then we will nurture them as a community. We’ll love them as a community. How are you doing? I forgot to do it. We will care for them as a community. We will love them, we’ll pray for them, we’ll encourage them, we’ll teach them. And you know, if you will respond to the teaching of Jesus, It’s not that great of a sacrifice. Because if we all will participate in this thing of educating and raising our children in the faith, it won’t be a great sacrifice. But whatever sacrifice you might make, Jesus says you are making it for Him and for His Father. Is there any sacrifice too great for Jesus? Yes or no? No. So you might miss a sermon once every eight weeks. I mean, I know I preach good, but not that good. That’s a little sacrifice, but you’re doing it for Jesus. So we’re going to find out if we’re a community that follows the teachings of Jesus. Do we have the heart of Jesus in our church or not? Because Jesus loves the little children so much. All right, go sit down, sweetie. Make sure the clipboard gets around to everybody. Lord, we thank You for these kids and the many more that You’ve given this community.
I pray, God, that both as parents and as a church, we would appreciate and value the trust that you have placed in our hands. I ask that we, as parents, and as a church, would not stumble the little ones.
I ask, Lord, rather that we as a church would communicate to them not just our love for them, but Your love for them. I pray that they would know, not by what we simply say, but by our lives, by our care, and by our attitudes, that they would know that they are loved, not just by us, but by you. We thank you that you have set them in our midst as a blessing and a reward. We thank you, Lord, that you have identified yourself with them.
I pray that as we cherish you, we would cherish them. I ask Lord Jesus that we would have your heart regarding the little ones and if we don’t [audio unclear] I ask You, dear God, change our heart. Take our hard hearts and make our hearts soft to the things that you care about, the things that are important to you. And I pray for the parents here, God, that if they’re not walking in a respectable way, I ask that you would forgive them and cleanse them and I ask that they would repent today. I pray that they would put away anger in their homes, slander. I pray that they’d put away neglect.
I pray that you give our children hearts to obey and honor their parents. We know how hard it is, Lord, to be submissive to you. So give us compassion on our own children, as they struggle to be submissive to us. But bring both of them and us to a place of obedience to you. Lord, you are good. I thank you that you have revealed to us in your teaching your heart toward the little ones. May we reflect that in our lives. I pray this in your name. Amen.