Jesus and the Children

Luke 18:15-16

Our true story comes from a part of the Bible called the Gospel of Luke. Luke loved Jesus and wanted others to know and love Jesus, too. And the word gospel means “good news!”

We begin with Jesus and a big crowd of people who had come to hear Him teach. In this crowd, there were some very important people. 


It seemed like everyone wanted to hear what Jesus had to say. There were moms and dads, and aunts and uncles. There were teachers . . . and doctors . . .and carpenters . . . and fishermen.


Can you guess who the very important people were in that crowd to hear Jesus? The very important people who were there to see Jesus that day were children. The children in the crowd that day wanted to see Jesus, too!


But Jesus’ disciples stopped them! "No, no, no," they said. The disciples told the children to stop and go away.


Do you think JESUS wanted the little children to go away? NO way! Jesus called the children to Him and said, “Let the little children come to me.” 


So, they did! Jesus opened His arms wide and the children came. Jesus told the crowd to NEVER stop children from coming to see Him because children are VERY important to Him.


Did you hear that? YOU are important to Jesus. He loves you and wants to be your friend forever.


WATCH VIDEO




Bible Paraphrase: A friend loves at all times. — Proverbs 17:17, NIrV

Text Truth: Jesus loves me.



Family Devotional

People were also bringing babies to Jesus for him to place his hands on them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. 16 But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”
—Luke 18:15-16

Our Bible story was about how Jesus wants ALL children to come to Him. He wants every child to be His friend forever. That means Jesus wants you to be His friend forever! And because Jesus is the best friend EVER, He loves us all the time. And the Bible verse we’ll learn will remind us that Jesus loves us all the time.

A friend loves at all times. —Proverbs 17:17, NIrV

We know Jesus loves ALL children and He wants to be their friend forever. With your family, make a list of your friends. When you pray, you can ask God to help you tell your friends that Jesus loves them and wants to be their friend forever, too.

Pray with your family. Allow any family members to pray if they wish. In your own words, thank God for sending Jesus to love everyone. Thank God that Jesus didn't just come to be a friend to grown-ups. But that He came to be a friend to children, too! And that Jesus wants to be (name each member of your family)'s friend forever, and He wants to be (read through your family's list)'s friend forever, too. Acknowledge that Jesus wants ALL children to be His friend forever! Ask God to help you all to tell your friends that Jesus loves them and that He wants to be their friend forever. Thank God for His love and acknowledge to God your love for Him. Close your prayer, "In Jesus' name, amen."

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Story illustrations made possible by a joint venture of Good News Productions, International and College Press Publishing Co. Artist, Paula Nash Giltner (www.theglobalgospel.org). Free Bibleimages have been granted permission to make these images freely available for personal, teaching and ministry use under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. www.freebibleimages.org
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