We All Need a “Little” Jesus

Sometimes the most profound reminders don’t come from a sermon or a devotional. Sometimes they come from the back seat of your car, delivered by a seven-year-old with a pocket full of tiny plastic Jesus figurines.

A few weeks ago, Penny found a little box containing one hundred miniature Jesus figurines. Each one carried the simple message, “Jesus Loves You.” It didn’t take her long to decide exactly what she wanted to do with them. She wanted to give them away.

I loved her idea. There was something so sweet and genuine about her excitement. She wasn’t thinking about who deserved one or who needed one the most. She simply wanted people to know that Jesus loves them. Children have such a beautiful way of making faith feel uncomplicated.

On Sunday morning, as we were getting ready for church, Penny asked if she could bring a few figurines with us. Without thinking too much about it, I replied, “Well, you can, but people at church already know about Jesus. Shouldn’t we save them for people who don’t know about Jesus?”

She didn’t argue. She didn’t even respond. I could tell she was thinking about what I had said as she quietly slipped a few little Jesuses into her pocket before we headed out the door.

A few minutes later, while we were driving to church, she broke the silence.

“Mama,” she said, “even if they go to church, they still need to know Jesus loves them.”

Oof.

I don’t know if you’ve ever had one of those moments where your child says something so simple, yet so full of truth, that it stops you in your tracks. That was one of those moments for me. I realized that somewhere along the way, I had unintentionally divided people into categories—those who needed to hear about Jesus and those who already knew Him. But Penny reminded me of something I should have known all along.

Just because someone knows who Jesus is doesn’t mean they no longer need to be reminded of His love.

In fact, I would argue that we all need that reminder far more often than we realize.

Life has a way of making us forget. We know the truth in our minds, but our hearts can become weary. We carry burdens that no one else sees. We wrestle with disappointment, grief, anxiety, guilt, loneliness, and exhaustion. We wonder if God is listening to our prayers. We question whether we’re enough. We show up at church with smiles on our faces while quietly carrying things that feel impossibly heavy.

Church isn’t filled with people who have it all together. It’s filled with people who are desperately in need of Jesus—every single week.

That’s exactly why Scripture encourages believers to keep encouraging one another. Hebrews 10:24–25 says, “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds… encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” We often think of encouragement as something reserved for those who don’t know Christ, but these words were written to people who already believed. They still needed reminders. They still needed community. They still needed someone to speak hope into their lives.

Paul echoes this same truth in 1 Thessalonians 5:11, where he writes, “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” Again, these weren’t instructions for reaching unbelievers—they were instructions for caring for fellow believers.

Isn’t that beautiful?

Sometimes we think the gospel is only for the moment someone first accepts Jesus. But the gospel isn’t just the starting line of our faith—it is what carries us every single day afterward. We never outgrow our need to hear that we are loved, forgiven, chosen, and held by our Savior.

Joanna Gott

As I watched Penny hand out those tiny figurines after church, I couldn’t help but smile. She wasn’t trying to decide who needed Jesus the most. She wasn’t evaluating someone’s faith or wondering whether they’d already heard the message enough times. She simply wanted people to be reminded that they are loved.

Maybe that’s what we’re called to do, too.

Not to decide who has heard enough.

Not to assume someone sitting in the pew next to us doesn’t need encouragement.

Not to believe that because someone has followed Jesus for decades, they’ve somehow graduated from needing reminders of His grace.

Instead, maybe we’re simply called to keep pointing one another back to Him.

As Penny continues to hand out the Jesus figurines, I think about that conversation in the car. I think about how easily I forget that the people around me—even the ones who faithfully attend church every Sunday—are carrying stories I know nothing about. They may desperately need someone to remind them of a truth they’ve heard a thousand times before.

Because the truth is, none of us ever outgrow our need to hear four simple words: