10.25.22 讓小孩子來 Let the Children Come

當父母帶著他們的嬰兒到耶穌面前想要他摸他們（這意味著祝福他們）時，他們受到了門徒的責備。但耶穌說：“讓小孩子到我這裏來，不要阻止他們，因為在　神國的正是這樣的人。” 不幸的是，今天的教會正在做門徒所做的事：阻礙孩子們來到耶穌面前。在聖經中，我們沒有看到“讓孩子們來到耶穌面前”的意思是去兒童主日學。相反，耶穌直接擁抱並歡迎嬰幼兒前來接受他的教導！耶穌沒有給孩子們單獨的信息。耶穌教導的時候，老少都在一起。今天，許多研究實際上指出，將兒童和青少年與集體敬拜分開會導致問題。

“為了為兒童和青少年提供相關且適合發展的教學和團契，我們將他們隔離開來——我有意但不輕率地使用這個動詞。這種隔離導致孩子們擱置他們的信仰。”

讓我們歡迎孩子們參與集體敬拜。孩子們需要看到和體驗其他人，尤其是他們的父母如何敬拜上帝。因此，讓孩子們和大人一起來到耶穌面前；不要阻礙他們，因為耶穌要祝福他們！

禱告：親愛的天父，請幫助我們歡迎孩子進入我們的生活，特別是進入我們的敬拜，因為祢對我們說話，就像父親對他的孩子一樣。願我們帶著孩子一起敬拜祢！奉耶穌的名，阿門。

When parents brought their infants to Jesus wanting Him to touch them (which means to bless them), they were rebuked by the disciples. But Jesus said “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.” Unfortunately, today’s church is doing what the disciples did: hindering children from coming to Jesus. Nowhere in the Bible do we see that “let the children come to Jesus” means to go to Children’s Sunday School. To the contrary, Jesus directly embraced and welcomed infants and children to come to receive His teachings! There was no separate message from Jesus for children. When Jesus taught, young and old were all together. Today, studies have in fact shown that the separation of children and youth from corporate worship leads to problems.

“In an effort to offer relevant and developmentally appropriate teaching and fellowship for children and teenagers, we have segregated — and I use that verb intentionally but not lightly — kids from the rest of the church. And that segregation is causing kids to shelve their faith.”

Let us welcome children to be in the midst of corporate worship. Children need to see and to experience how others, especially their parents, worship God. Therefore let the children come TOGETHER with adults to Jesus; do not hinder them, because Jesus wants to bless them!

Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, please help us to welcome children into our lives, especially into our times of worship, especially since You speak to us as a Father to His children. May we bring our children together to worship You! In Jesus’ name, Amen.