Daily Devotional For Thursday, December 18, 2025
Note: In each devotional where you see only the reference to a Bible passage without the verse (ex. John 3:16), that is a direct link to that passage online. All you have to do is click on that reference and you will be taken to the verse itself. Thank you.
As you know we are making our way through the Gospel of Matthew and today we come to Matthew 18:1-6:
“At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, ‘Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ (2) And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, (3) and said, ‘Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. (4) Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. (5) And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; (6) but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea’” (NASB).
Greatness!? Who is the greatest basketball player of all time? To me – Michael Jordan. Who is the greatest boxer of all time – Cassius Clay (Muhammed Ali). Pride is behind the disciples’ question and we know what God thinks of pride. He hates it because pride brought sin into the world and it had destroyed everything good since.
Jesus had just talked about being killed by the religious leaders and then being resurrected and His disciples are more interested in who will be the greatest in Jesus’ earthly kingdom. Now to be fair to His disciples, maybe they wondered if Jesus was killed, where did this leave them? They want to know about greatness and Jesus uses this as an opportunity to help them see who God considers great.
In a Jewish culture, rank was very important (see Luke 14:7-11). Jesus had already taught His disciples there would be positions such as least and greatest (see Matt. 5:19). Mark’s Gospel lets us know that this was such a concern for Jesus’ disciples that they got into an argument about it (see Mark 9:33-34). It is possible that the other nine disciples were jealous that only Peter, James and John were allowed to go up on the mountain with Jesus and experience His Transfiguration and their silence about what had happened (see Matt. 17:1-9).
To us the disciples question is an easy answer: God is the greatest. But, if that is obvious, who among them and future disciples are the greatest in God’s eyes? This is not the right question to ask because then motives come into play. In Aramaic, the word for “child” and “servant” is the same word. By taking a child into His arms, Jesus was saying that to be great you must be willing to serve others. Meaning – His disciples needed to change and become like children or servants.
Specifically, they needed to change their attitudes. They had now become preoccupied with greatness, positions, power, prestige, and the organizational structure of Jesus’ kingdom rather than seeking a place of service. They wanted positions of advantage. By using a child, Jesus challenged their self-centered hearts to see what real greatness is. As children must depend on their parents, servants of God must depend on Him. Jesus talked about humility in The Beatitudes (see Matt. 5:3-6). Meaning God’s people are called to humility and they are not concerned with their status of positions, power and prestige. The greatest in God’s kingdom are those who humbly serve others.
Jesus would later build on this in Matthew (see Matt. 20:26-28). True humility and true greatness is seen in self-denial. Jesus equates welcoming children with receiving Him. This had to come as a shock since they all lived in a culture where Jesus were second-class citizens and were to be seen, but not heard. The principle, as often seen in Matthew, is that God and Christ will consider the way one treats others to be equal to (1) the way one will be treated, or (2) the way one treats Jesus (for example, see Matt. 6:14-15 and Matt. 25:31-46).
But this is more than welcoming Jesus in Jesus’ name. This attitude welcomes the ones who are spiritually young. This attitude welcomes believers who do not have the status of power, position or prestige as others. No one is beneath you to serve. Jesus came from no status being a carpenter. In the church, we are to welcome and love one another regardless of anyone’s status.
Jesus then warns us about the dangers of not doing this. He refers to a “Stumbling block.” If we cause another believer, especially a young one to sin or fall away from the faith, or we cause an unbeliever to walk away from God, then that person will receive severe punishment. Let me add some context to this. In the Greek text, Jesus doesn’t just say you should drown, He says you be taken to the deepest part of the ocean, have a 3,300 pound millstone tied around you (which was the average weight) and you tossed overboard. The deepest part of the ocean is in the Mariana Trench, which has a depth of nearly 36,000 feet. But the horror of this is minor compared to one’s punishment in eternity. Jesus called His disciples to a childlike attitude to serve others.
If we cause someone to stumble, God’s punishment is there. If someone tied a 2-ton stone around your neck and threw you overboard to sink down the Mariana Trench, you would hit the bottom pretty fast, where your physical body would stay. There would be no escape. You would be in an eternal dark grave from which there was no escape. Christian author, John Milton calls this the “black Gehenna.” He goes on to say this, “Death by fire or death by water; burning or drowning—what will it be? Neither option sounds all that pleasant” (Source: John Milton, Paradise Lost, Vol. 1, p. 405. This is why our personal holiness, godliness and righteousness is so important. We need to shape up. Grow up and wake up. We need to be killing our sin or it will be killing us and potentially others. What we do privately matters. It affects our walk with the Lord. I conclude with the words of New Testament scholar Douglas Sean O’Donnell:
“Do you grasp for worldly power? Do you rush to judgment? Do you easily lose your temper? Do you overstuff your stomach? Do you gossip? Do you hoard money? Do you overlook the unimportant? Do you think of yourself as very important? Cut it off and cut it out. Cut off pride. Cut off lust. Cut off sloth. Cut off anger. Cut off greed. Cut off envy. Cut off gluttony. Cut off those seven deadly sins and seventy more because they will kill you — “It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire” (see Matt. 18:9) — and because they endanger the lives of the “little ones,” some of your dear brothers and sisters in Christ. This is serious stuff. So take it seriously” (Source: Douglas Sean O’Donnell, Preach The Word, “Matthew: All Authority In Heaven And On Earth,” p. 504).
Assignment: Take a minute to answer each question by New Testament scholar Douglas Sean O’Donnell above. How conscious are you that your actions and attitudes could cause someone to stumble, even family members? Are you letting the Holy Spirit kill your sin or are you letting the devil use your sin to kill you and others spiritually?
Scripture To Meditate On: Matthew 5:29, “If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, ]than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.” (NASB).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, help me not to be a stumbling block to others. You have called me to be holy, godly and righteous. Please forgive me when I allow my sin to impact others in a way that they stumble. I love you Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly