There’s a story in the Bible of children approaching Jesus. The disciples tried to keep them away, but Jesus said: ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these’ (Mark 10:14 NIV). These children had no inhibitions, they just wanted to spend time with Jesus. As we get older, although we want to spend time with Him, we can come up with excuses and reasons why we shouldn’t. Maybe life gets too busy, or we make a mistake and think that we wouldn’t be welcome in His presence. Maybe we think our problems are too big, or too small, to bother Jesus with. But the truth is, we’re always welcome in His presence. And we don’t have to approach timidly. We can ‘approach God’s throne of grace with confidence.’ Jesus said: ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven’ (Matthew 18:3 NIV). He wants us to have childlike faith, and that includes approaching Him with confidence. He always welcome us in, no matter what we’ve done and no matter how long it’s been since we last approached Him. We can draw near to Him. We’re told: ‘Come near to God and he will come near to you’ (James 4:8 NIV). Let’s also remember that it was the disciples who were trying to stop the children coming to Jesus. Sometimes we can become judgmental of others, believing that they’re too much of a mess to come to church, or to approach Jesus. We doubt their intentions. But Jesus welcomes everyone who seeks Him with open arms. So let’s approach Him with confidence, with childlike faith, and allow others to do the same.

What Now?

Read the story of the children approaching Jesus (you can find it in Mark 10). Then ask God to help you approach Him with confidence.