The Kingdom of Heaven is "Simple"

I am on day 2 and a half from being back in the US from Haiti. Yesterday, was rough on me with the re-entry. It was something that I haven't experienced since my very first missions trip in 2008. I thought that I had grown accustomed to leaving the mission field and coming back to reality, but after this experience, it is apparent that I am not.

Today in my personal devotion I read Matt 13. In this chapter Jesus tells several different stories through parables to describe God's Kingdom. The thing that stuck out to me was that Jesus chose to continuously start the parables with the words "The Kingdom of Heaven is like..."
Jesus gives these stories to tell the wondering disciples many of the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven. This scripture is jam-packed with great revelations. The stories that Jesus tells are very simple. He describes how both the mustard seed and yeast are small in nature but have an influence way greater than their size would indicate. This shows how no matter what size the package, God's intent is what truly matters. Jesus also tells about the value and treasure of the kingdom of heaven through the story of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl.

This hit home with me because I feel like God imparted a seed into my heart during my time in Haiti. While there, we had the opportunity to play with the Haitian kids and orphans several times while we were there. In Matt 18:5 Jesus says"And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me." I take the words of this verse very literally because while in Haiti playing with the kids, I felt as though I was on a cloud walking in the Kingdom of Heaven. These kids had love and compassion for one-another. While the rest of the world is fighting with each other, these kids did all they could to wrap their arms around each other and fit their entire crew in on the photographs we were taking. The sight of this practically brought me to tears. These small humans had not be manipulated by society. They just knew fun, laughter and love.

This brings me back to what I felt Jesus is showing the disciples in Matt 13. All of His illustrations through the parables are so simple. Like Jesus, let's keep the Kingdom of Heaven simple.