Devotions for Kids: A Faith that Shouts

Devotions for Kids is a series meant for sharing so that everyone - family and community - can spend time in God's Word together with the children in their lives and grow in faith.

He shouted, "Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!"

Luke 18:38

Imagine that you are the blind man in today's Gospel story.  You can't see, you need to rely on the kindness of others to survive, and you don't know what else to do other than beg for help.  Then one day that seems just as sad and difficult as all the ones before it, you hear the best news ever - Jesus is walking by!  What do you do?!?

The man in today's story had great faith and placed all his hope in Jesus.  He didn't just think about asking Jesus for help, and he didn't just ask Jesus to help him; he shouted for Jesus!  The people around him told him to be quiet.  Maybe this was because they were scared of the attention the man's shouting was bringing, or maybe they thought this man, because of his blindness, wasn't that important and his shouting was annoying them.  But did the man listen to them and lower his voice?  No!

The blind man knew what he needed and he knew Jesus was the One who could heal him.  So, ignoring everyone telling him to keep his faith quiet, he shouted even louder to get Jesus's attention.  Finally, Jesus stopped.  He stopped everything and everyone around Him to give His attention to one man who did not give up on his faith.  Jesus asked the man what he needed, the man asked to see, and immediately Jesus helped him by healing his blindness.

The man in this Gospel teaches us an important lesson - we cannot let anyone quiet our faith!  Sometimes when you pray, you might feel shy, especially if other people are around and can hear and see you.  You might also worry that Jesus is too busy to stop and listen to your problems, or that your prayer is too silly for Jesus to care about.

But guess what?  Jesus wants you to be just like this man!  He wants you to shout out to Him with everything in your heart, even if other people tell you to stop.  Jesus is always ready to listen to you because your voice, even if it doesn't sound much louder than a whisper, is always loud enough to be heard by God!

Let's pray:  God, just like the blind man in today's Gospel, there are things I need from You.  Please help me to be loud about my faith and not be afraid to shout for Your help!  Amen.