Let the children come
Jesus and the children
People were bringing little children to Jesus, and the disciples — busy, important, guarding the great teacher's time — rebuked them and shooed them away. Children had no status, nothing to offer, no claim on a rabbi's attention. Jesus was indignant. Let the little children come to me, he said; don't hinder them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. And he took them in his arms and blessed them.
The disciples' instinct is every busy leader's instinct: protect your time for the people who matter — those with influence or usefulness — and wave away the rest. Jesus reverses it. He makes time for exactly the ones the system deemed unimportant. A leader reveals his heart most clearly by how he treats those who can do nothing for him: the junior, the unconnected, the ones others are quietly shooing out of the room. To them, Jesus gave his arms and his blessing.
“Whoever receives one such little child in my name receives me.”
— Jesus, on receiving a child — Matthew 18:5 (WEB)
A leader reveals his heart by how he treats those who can do nothing for him. The Christlike instinct makes time for the overlooked the system waves away.
“Allow the little children to come to me! Don't forbid them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”
Jesus was indignant at gatekeeping that protected his time from the unimportant. A leader formed here resists guarding his attention only for the useful and influential. The inner work is a heart that values the ones who can offer nothing in return.
Make deliberate time for the junior, the unconnected, the overlooked. Refuse to let busyness turn into gatekeeping that shoos away the unimportant. Treat those who can do nothing for you as worth your arms and your blessing.
Leaders protect their time for the influential and call it stewardship, while waving away the lowly. The blind spot is not seeing that how they treat the useless-to-them reveals their actual heart.
Identify someone you tend to wave away as unimportant. This week, make real time for them, expecting nothing in return.
Every busy leader's instinct is to protect his time for the people who matter and wave away the rest. Jesus made time for exactly the ones the system waved away.
Whom are you shooing out of the room as unimportant — and what would making time for them reveal about your heart?