By Marcel Rebiai

“Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me. . . . Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven.”
Matthew 18:5,10

Today, half of the world’s population is under fifteen years old. It is regrettable that so few women and even fewer men hear the call to reach out to these children and lift them out of the sea of misery, fear and hopelessness so that they too can find their true home with their heavenly Father. Investing in these children means being ready and willing to give up one’s own life for them, so they can experience the parenthood of God through us. The only way these children and young people may witness the path to God is through our hearts. The cost of this investment isn’t only measured in time, materials and energy; for the most part it is in suffering with them, through their hardships and abandonment.

When we turn our hearts to these children and young people, we take on their pain, aggression, helplessness, loneliness and anxieties. For children are exposed to a world full of dark powers of hate, greed and indifference.

God is looking for men and women who are ready to make His own parenthood visible, perceptible, and tangible to others. Where are the witnesses? Where are the fathers? Where are the mothers? Who is willing to give up their professional careers, their social lives, even their current Christian work, in order to give their lives away to these children and youths, to fulfil this deep desire in God’s heart?

This devotional is taken from the book To See God by Marcel Rebiai. If you would like to order your own copy, please email us here, [email protected].

Marcel Rebiai is a board member of Revive Israel, and is inspiration for our community. Marcel was born in Algiers in 1953. He came to Switzerland as a war orphan and received faith in Jesus in his youth, which changed his life and made him a messenger of God’s love in Jesus. Since then, he has been faithfully working for the building of the community of Messiah. Marcel is the founder of the “Community of Reconciliation”, an organization that works for reconciliation between Jews and Arabs based on God’s forgiveness and love in Christ. Marcel teaches in various settings around the world about the love that God revealed to us in Jesus, a love that enables reconciliation. Marcel has been living in Jerusalem for the last 30 years, is married to Regula, and has four children and eleven grandchildren.