A Child's Humility

Matthew 18:4
Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus had just taken a little child up in His arms and set him where all could see him. Then He makes this statement on humility. What better example could be chosen than a little child? Let's just stop and reflect on this scene.

There was a crowd there, and they were there for one reason. We know there was a crowd there from the previous verses. The tax collectors had questioned Jesus' disciples as to whether or not Jesus paid taxes. Jesus made arrangements for tax money. Now He was to address an even greater issue, that of pride. As I stated, the people were there for one reason. That reason was solely to see Jesus. Some desired to hear His teachings. Some desired to trap Him in His words. Some, perhaps, were there just out of curiosity because they saw a crowd gathering. Ever go over to where a crowd is gathered just to find out what is going on?

This little child Jesus picked up had to know Jesus was the center of attention that day. We know it was a boy, for the Bible tells us Jesus set "him" in the midst of them. Now, here is this little boy given the privilege of sharing the spotlight with Jesus momentarily. The boy had done nothing to earn this right. He just happened to be with his parents who had brought him there for their reasons. He had not earned the respect of his community, he had not gained wealth and fame, nor had he done anything worthy of such attention.

Knowing little boys, this boy was probably feeling somewhat shy over all the attention. He would also have been in awe of this great teacher who was showing him attention. Surely he was won over by the kindness in the voice of Jesus and by the gentleness of this person everyone was talking about everyday, the one who was going about doing good and healing people. This little boy would surely have heard all the wonderful stories of this marvelous man. I think he would have felt very humble to have been singled out by Jesus.

Jesus is not impressed by our wealth, for He is the One who gave it to us. Jesus is not impressed by our knowledge, for He created the things we have knowledge of. Jesus is not impressed by our accomplishments, for He gave us the talents we used to accomplish. He provided the opportunities. Jesus is impressed with our humility and our awareness of our smallness before Him, the Creator and Sustainer of life. Jesus is impressed with our dependency on Him, and our commitment to Him. In the beginning God said "Let us make man in our image." How can the Creator be impressed with the greatness of that which He created? He can do anything, at anytime, in any way, for any reason with us as He chooses.

That is why foolish pride turns Him off from us and humility turns Him on to us. We must be as the little child, humble. If God allows us to have great achievements, great riches, great influence, great whatever, the glory is all His. Without Him we are nothing.