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Remember, to obey when Jesus calls, is better than trying to make up for it with sacrifice later. (See 1 Samuel 15: 22) | New Hope for the Week
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Remember, to obey when Jesus calls, is better than trying to make up for it with sacrifice later. (See 1 Samuel 15: 22)

Today I will:

  • be quick to hear and obey God's voice
  • keep things simple
  • focus on service rather than striving for advancement

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Matthew 5:6 (ESV)

In a busy square in Capernaum, the disciples finally worked up the nerve to ask Jesus a question that had been bothering them for some time: "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"

In response, Jesus turned to a child running by. The child may have been on an important errand for her parents, or it could have been a boy in the midst of a game of tag running from a friend. Likely the child was occupied in something else, but at Jesus' call, the child stopped whatever he or she was doing and came over and stood before Jesus. Then Jesus answered the disciples: "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" (Matthew 18:3-4 NK]V, emphasis added).

Though Jesus commended a childlike nature as a condition for being in God's kingdom, He noted something particular about this one child that made him or her stand out. What was it? It was that the child obeyed immediately, dropped whatever game or errand, and came to stand before Jesus, ready for whatever He might request next.

Is such obedience possible in the busy world of today? Regardless of the importance of what we are doing, or how involved we are in it, we had better make sure that we are ready to be just that quick to obey if Jesus calls on us.