I have heard
so many times that mothers will do anything for their precious children. I
wish it was so…
In my teaching days, I knew many unwanted children. One child, for example,
who was from a broken family, wasn’t welcome in either parent’s home.
Whenever he is in contact with one of them, conflict arose. So many times he
heard that he was worthless. So many times he was told to leave.
In some cultures, young female children are forced into lives of
prostitution. The message they receive from their parents is that they have
to work if they want to be fed. They are told: “If you don’t have a client,
don’t come back!”
Then there are children who are kidnapped and forced to become soldiers. If
one of these children runs away, they are killed. At least the parents of
these children worry about them; but unfortunately most of them will never
see their child again.
How do these children survive with no one who cares about them? They are so
lonely. They don’t even know what love looks like.
No matter how unloved by this world, our Heavenly Father cries for them. He
knows that these atrocities should never happen. When one of these children
encounters our Heavenly Father, His message to them is this: “I have loved
you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness”
(Jeremiah 31:3b NIV)
God loves us! And He especially loves these poor children. He can help them
break their shackles. He would say: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep
and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country
and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he
joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends
and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost
sheep.’” (Luke 15;3-6 NIV)
We are the children of God.
We are His
hands and feet. What will we do to help these poor, unloved, abandoned,
stolen children, kids who don’t have a friend in the world. Should we ignore
them? The Pharisees might have done that, but NOT a child of God. God’s
children will be concerned for these children.
We would try
to do what Jesus did.
And what would Jesus do?
Very simple: “People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place
his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he
was indignant. He said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do
not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I
tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child
will never enter it.’ And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands
on them and blessed them.” (Mark 10:13-16 NIV)
When brought face to face with the suffering in this world, we have two
choices: We ignore it…Or we love them like our Heavenly Father loves them:
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look
after orphans and widows in their distress…” (James 1:27 NIV)
What choice will YOU make?
Rob Chaffart