A WORD FOR TODAY, May 30, 2025
Peggy Hoppes
We pray you have been blessed by this daily devotion. If you received it from a friend, you can see other devotions and studies by visiting our website at www.awordfortoday.org.
Blessings. Peg
A WORD FOR TODAY, May 30, 2025
“An argument arose among them about which of them was the greatest. Jesus, perceiving the reasoning of their hearts, took a little child, and set him by his side, and said to them, ‘Whoever receives this little child in my name receives me. Whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For whoever is least among you all, this one will be great.’” Luke 9:36-38, WEB
We are beginning to plan our summer vacation. We will be driving home to spend a week or so with family. My husband will attend his fiftieth class reunion. We want to visit a park with a trail of waterfalls. I always set a goal of eating as many cheesesteaks as possible, and we really want to eat a hoagie. We’ll enjoy the company of family and friends, visit the gravesites of our parents, and drive the old familiar roads. We are planning to drive home, so we have to plan our route and reserve rooms along the way. Some wonder why we would drive, since it takes so much longer than flying, but we love to take road trips and prefer the advantages than those of flying. We like having room to take everything we need, including gifts for our family and friends. I prefer my own pillows, and I like to overpack so that I have extra clothes “just in case.” Besides, there are so many wonderful things to see along the way.
I don’t care how many times we’ve done it; I still get excited when we cross the Mississippi River. I enjoy looking for landmarks along the way. I am amazed at how diverse the landscape is across the country. I search for the first sight of the big cities as their skyscrapers reach toward the heavens. It is fun to travel at different times of the year to see the creation during different seasons. Sometimes our view is not pretty. We’ve traveled through storm ravaged areas and seen the destruction. We’ve seen changes as small towns have grown larger. We’ve experienced more road construction than I would like to admit. A flight home might not take as long and the views from an airplane window can be amazing, but there’s something about seeing the details, looking for the little things, that fills me with joy. They bring a smile to my face. And I’ve realized that the little things really do matter.
Jesus noticed the little things. It is said that children should be seen and not heard, but children are often not even seen. They have no value in too many societies, so they don’t matter until they are grown. Only about half the children born in Jesus’ day even made it to puberty. Though children are always important for the promulgation of society, they weren’t given personhood until majority. In a society that separated men from women, the children were given free reign of the home, moving between the men and the women. While we might think that raises their importance, it actually shows that adults didn’t pay any attention to them.
Jesus paid attention. He saw the little children and He valued them. He saw in their faith an example we should all imitate. He stopped teaching to bless them. He touched them and loved them. In today’s story, Jesus heard the disciples arguing about how was the biggest and best, and He put a small child into the center of the group and told the disciples that if they want to be great, then they should pay attention to the least of God’s people. “Don’t ignore the little ones, for in them will be found God’s grace.” Then He took the lesson a step further by telling the disciples they should not try to be the biggest and best, but they should be like the little children. Whenever we feel like we don’t matter, we can remember that God doesn’t look down at us from some heavenly throne but is so close that He sees every detail of our lives. He delights in each of us. We bring a smile to His face. And He has called us to be living examples of faith, willingly living as one who is the least so that He can make us great.
A WORD FOR TODAY is posted five days a week – Monday through Friday. The devotional on Wednesday takes a look at the scripture from the Revised Common Lectionary for the upcoming Sunday. A WORD FOR TODAY is posted on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Word-for-Today-Devotional/339428839418276. Like the page to receive the devotion through Facebook. For information and to access our archives, visit http://www.awordfortoday.org