Good morning! It’s Monday, November 24th, 2025.
All children arrive innocent, soft, and wonderfully cuddly. But give them a year or two, and suddenly their vocabulary expands to that universal first declaration of humanity: “Mine!” Self-centeredness slips in quickly the moment their will awakens.
But Jesus flips the script. He reminds us the Kingdom of Heaven isn’t something we claw our way into. He hints at a sobering truth: there is a gift that has already been given… until it is rejected. Read on…
Today's Reading:
Matthew 17,18,19
Scripture
“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” (Matthew 19:14)
Observation
Jesus leaves no doubts. There are no prequalifications, no selecting only the spiritual elite. He says it plainly: “The Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these.”
This may jar some of our long-held assumptions, but it reveals something essential about God’s heart: He is always leaning toward us—not against us. He doesn’t condemn innocence. He doesn’t judge the uninformed. Ignorance doesn’t disqualify us nearly as much as rebellion does.
God isn’t scanning for reasons to keep us out. We are the ones who decline the invitation He never withdraws.
Application
This tells me something profoundly comforting: every innocent child begins with the Kingdom of Heaven already extended to them… until they grow old enough to refuse it. Ecclesiastes reminds us, “God created mankind upright, but they have gone in search of many schemes” (Ecclesiastes 7:29).
God starts us off with His very best. The gift is His to give, but its reception—and its keeping—rest in our hands. Heaven’s benefits, heaven’s joys, heaven’s life… all are offered freely. But we can, with equal freedom, refuse them.
And yet—and this is what amazes me—God keeps believing in us. He keeps extending grace. He keeps holding out the gift even after we’ve pushed it away more than once. He is more committed to saving us than we are to rejecting Him. His mercy never fails.
Prayer
Father, thank You for every time You kept offering Your hand even when I pulled mine away. During this Thanksgiving week, I want to tell You how deeply grateful I am for Your mercy and Your relentless love. Today, once again, I accept Your offer. I choose Your Kingdom. I choose You.
–Wayne Cordeiro
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