Jesus' disciples asked Him, "Who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" Most people are probably expecting the answer to be, "I AM" or "The Father is." That would make since. God, the Father, is on the throne. He is sovereign over everything He has created. An answer like this would make perfect since.
It must have puzzled the first disciples and perhaps is still a puzzle to disciples today when Jesus had a child brought to Him and said, "unless you are converted and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 18:3). What? We must become like children? Yes, we must come to Jesus in simple faith. There is nothing that we can offer Him, nothing we can do to earn salvation, nothing we can pay to buy salvation, and nothing we can do good enough to deserve salvation.
There is much that would be written at this point. Too often we make salvation more difficult than it is for people to have. We have created hoops and barriers to the gospel that were never intended. For example, a person must be a certain age, or they must be able to answer all of our questions correctly, or they must be baptized before they are really saved. As I often say to the family of LOPBC, "show me where that is in Scripture." In the verse we have considered this morning and the surrounding context, it is clear that simple faith in Jesus leads to greatness in the kingdom of heaven. I love to point to this verse, "Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved" (Romans 10:13).
Praying today for:
(1) Lake O' the Pines = Indian Hills / Deer Cove
(2) State = Indiana
(3) Nation = US Virgin Islands
(4) Continent = Australia
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