ESOCS Devotional 19 October 2026 – Develop Childlike Attitude
MEMORY VERSE: “But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 19:14 KJV
TEXT: MATTHEW 19: 1-15
Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these sayings, that He departed from Galilee and came to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. 2 And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them there.
3 The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?”
4 And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”
7 They said to Him, “Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?”
8 He said to them, “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.”
10 His disciples said to Him, “If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry.”
11 But He said to them, “All cannot accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given: 12 For there are [c]eunuchs who were born thus from their mother’s womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He who is able to accept it, let him accept it.”
13 Then little children were brought to Him that He might put His hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them. 14 But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” 15 And He laid His hands on them and departed from there.
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The disciples of Jesus must have forgotten what Jesus had said about children – that whoever shall humble himself like a little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. In addition, whoever shall offend any of the children who believe in Him, it would be better that a weight is tied on his neck and he is thrown to the sea to drown there (Matthew 18:4-6).
Jesus wanted little children to come to Him because He loves them and because they have the kind of attitude needed to approach God. He did not mean that heaven is only for children, but people need childlike attitudes to trust God.
The receptiveness of little children was a great contrast to the stubbornness of the religious leaders who let their education and sophistication stand in the way of the simple faith needed to believe in Jesus.
The lesson here is that those who would submit to the kingdom reign of Jesus must have the humble and childlike character of little children.
Reflections
- Be you whatever you may like to be, but be like a child.
Prayer
- God, make me a childlike Christian to serve you better.
Further Reading: Mark 10:15; Luke 18:17
ESOCS Devotional 19 October 2026
