“I don’t like kids.”
I know that’s how some of you feel. It’s a loaded statement. There are many reasons why
people say that; some selfish, some pain-laiden from abuse or neglect. Even right now in this
moment, ask yourself, “How do I feel about children in general?” No judgement. Just explore the
thought for a minute and then observe your reaction and continue reading.
Okay…hello again.

Our culture is not pro-children. It’s pro-self. SELF is more important than CHILDREN. This
demonic reality is why it is generally accepted that stopping beating hearts trumps
taking away from personal ambition. This is the world we live in. We don’t have public
executions, we have glorified private ones. We pass judgement on countries who don’t grant
mercy to criminals and publicly put to death in shame (as do I), but we dare not judge the
general populous who chooses to not grant mercy to the unborn. This blog is not about abortion
or pro-life, but context is important. So, before I talk about children, I needed to set up the
cultural context in which I’m speaking (writing). My suggestion is that it’s POSSIBLE that if you
don’t love children, it’s because you are infected with a poisonous lie.

Fun facts:
-Children are gross.
-Children are inconvenient.
-Children are offensive.
-Children are exhausting.

Other facts:
-Grown- ups are gross.
-Grown- ups are inconvenient.
-Grown- ups are offensive.
-Grown- ups are exhausting.

Children are humans. Humans are hard. Jesus loves humans. Jesus REALLY loves children. If
you don’t, for the literal love of God, open up your heart right now and listen.

“Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The
disciples rebuked the people, but Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me and do
not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.’ And he laid his hands on
them and went away.”
Matthew 19:13-15 (ESV)

Luke 18:17 adds more to what Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the
kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”
We can learn a lot here. A couple highlights are:

1.         Jesus thinks, no…commands, that WE are to LEARN from children, and Oh, do
they have much to teach us!
2.        What we view as the inconvenience of children, does not inconvenience Jesus.
So if we find ourselves being inconvenienced by children, our own or others, there should be a
red flag in our heart that God needs to do some work and it’s up to us to submit to that process.

Let’s do another one. (don’t skim over this passage)
“At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of
heaven?’ And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, ‘Truly, I say
to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of
heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of
heaven. Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes
one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great
millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the sea.’”
Matthew 18:1-6

So what the heck are we supposed to do with all of this information, dear Jesus?
I don’t know. My answer will be different than yours. Yours will be different than someone
else’s. But in Jesus’ upside down kingdom, certainly our priorities will be called forth to change.

For me, what loving children looks like is guarding my words and my tone to them, especially
surrounding their identity. Scolding, “What’s wrong with you?” must be poison on my lips.
Ignoring their pleas for attention for the priority of a screen must burn my eyes. Teaching myself
about God’s word and heart, but not passing that on to my children must make my heart groan
with burden.

For someone who is tempted to abuse children in any way, loving children for you, looks like
staying away from them while God heals you.

For a parent who is separated or divorced or even married, loving children looks like protecting
their dignity and identity by not including them in marriage drama that is aimed at maligning the
other parent. I’m not allowed to swear on this blog, but if I was permitted, I would use more
emphatic language to describe how damaging that is to the heart of a child.

For the average person without kids in your life, loving children like Jesus might be just learning
how to have an eye to eye conversation with them.

I’ll stop now. But will you ask God to show you how you can make His priorities become yours
as you humble yourself like a child before a very perfect Father?