Hello, friends. Thanks for joining us for today's reading from the Our Daily Bread

Devotional. John Blaze is today's writer, and he's titled it, The Kingdom of God.

My mother has been committed to many things over the course of her life, but one that has remained constant is her desire to see little children introduced to Jesus.

Of the few times, I've witnessed my mother displayed disagreement publicly, all were when someone attempted to cut a children's ministry budget in favor of what

they felt were more serious expenditures. I took one summer off when I was pregnant with your brother,

but that's it, she told me. I did a little family math, and I realized my mom had been working

with children in the church for 55 years. Mark 10 records one

of the enduring stories in the Gospels commonly titled, The Little Children and Jesus. People were

bringing children to Jesus that he might touch and bless them, but the disciples tried to prevent this from happening.

Mark records Jesus as indignant, and rebuking his very own disciples saying,

Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such

as these.

Charles Dickens wrote,

I love these little people,

and it's not a slight thing when they, who are so fresh from God, love us.

And it's not a slight thing when we, who are older,

do all we can to make sure the little children are never hindered from the ever-fresh love of Jesus.

Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading comes to us from the Gospel of Mark, chapter 10, verses 13 through 16.

People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them.

When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them,

Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly, I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child

will never enter it. And he took the children in

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