His Last WeekSample

When Jesus was in Jerusalem he spent time at the temple courts, and his last week was no different. When he arrived in the city for his final Passover he found people there trying to profit from others' worship of his Father. He got angry and threw them all out. Then, shockingly, Jesus welcomed into the temple the blind, the lame, and even children! He insinuated they were much more at home there than the self-righteous Pharisees.

“Do you hear what these children are saying?” they (the Pharisees) asked him.

“Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read, 'From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise’?” (Matthew 21).

God cherished the praises of the very people the Pharisees deemed unworthy to come before him.

Jesus repeatedly affirmed that God looked fondly on the humble, the lowly, the repentant, and the sinner. Right up until the end of his life Jesus railed against the Pharisees that excluded them from the Kingdom of God. Jesus spent time with children, outcasts, sinners, the sick, those in need of mercy... Jesus is compelled toward those who will receive him.

You do not have to go to the temple to connect with God, but you do have to come to him as a sinner in need of forgiveness. Being lowly and in need is the one requirement to enter his Kingdom. When you approach him seeking with your whole heart, you find forgiveness, grace, and life at the throne every single time.

Today: go low. Ask Jesus for forgiveness. Admit where you’re not good enough. Ask for his grace, and you will find it.