September 25

Forbid Them Not

Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me — Matt 19:14

The love of Christ for children was one of the most beautiful qualities in His life. It revealed His true human-heartedness. But we must remember too that it revealed His divine interest in the children.

Jesus was much displeased when His disciples rebuked those who brought the little ones, and would keep the children away. “Suffer them to come to me, and forbid them not,” He said. So we have the caution for ourselves. We must be very careful that we never keep any children form coming to Christ.

We may do this in many ways. We may do this, if we are parents or older Christians, by our own worldly example. Undevout parents are likely to keep their children away from the Saviour, even unintentionally, by the influence of their own life. We may do it also by telling them they are too young to come to Him; by simply doing nothing, allowing them to grow up uninfluenced toward the right; by allowing their minds to become pre-occupied with other things, to the exclusion of Christ.

Christ stands yet and calls upon us to clear every hindrance out of the way, that the children may come to Him, and besides to do all we can to bring them to Him. It must be noticed that it is to Christ Himself the children are to come. Suppose they cannot understand “the plan of redemption,” or cannot know the doctrines of the Church, or cannot answer the hard questions we sometimes put to inquirers; shall we therefore keep them back? No; Christ says, “Let them come to me.” No matter how little they know of the way, we are to put up no gates, we are to make no standards of knowledge or experience; we are only to be sure we hinder them not, and that we let them come to Him. After that there will be time enough to teach them.