Does God love children more?

The Bible book of Matthew chapter 19 records Jesus saying something interesting about children. He is pained when the disciples try to keep kids away from Him and says, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” He also said to His own disciples in the chapter before this, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.”

Clearly Jesus is not saying that children are more important to God than others. Otherwise, He would not have selected adult apostles! He is obviously referring to typical qualities of children.

Consider these child-like attributes. Children don’t hold grudges, unforgiveness, malice, or hidden agendas. They quickly forget past hurts and are happy to move on and restore relationship. Children are compassionate, empathetic, and quick to express love.

Children are quick to believe. Their effortless faith and trust makes them vulnerable but also makes them pliable. Children are humble and recognize their relative importance, and they will obey the one they recognize as authority.

Those Bible verses are meant to let us know that Jesus is more than willing to put up with the other unpleasant things about kids too: the silly and stupid, the incessant questioning, the stubbornness, the embarrassing actions, trying personalities, and the tendency to get into trouble that they can’t get themselves out of. Yes, God is very patient with His children! We don’t have to be perfect, we just have to recognize Him as our Father and walk with Him. He will correct us and keep us on the right road. We will mature into spiritual adulthood, but we should never lose the qualities that God prizes in little children!
(Matthew 19:13-15, Matthew 18:3-5, 1 Corinthians 14:20, Ephesians 2:8-10, Ephesians 4:11-15)