JESUS CHERISHES CHILDREN
Never despise one of these little ones; I tell you, they have their guardian angels in heaven, who look continually on the face of my heavenly Father. Matt. 18:10, N.E.B.
Imagine that a local business executive and his wife are coming to your house for dinner. They ring the doorbell and, without looking up from the stove, you shout, "Wipe your feet as you enter; I don't want any mud on my carpet. And shut the door! You weren't born in a barn, you know." Later, as they eat around the table, you snarl at them, "Chew with your mouth closed. And remember, if you don't eat all your vegetables, you don't get any dessert."
The scenario is ridiculous, at first glance, because we sense that it simply wouldn't be appropriate to treat a dignified adult in that manner. But an equally heavy wave of embarrassment should hit us that we find it so easy to speak to our children in this way. Sensing that it is wrong to hurt the feelings of adults by speaking in bilittling ways, we wonder why we so readily try to control our children's behavior through this kind of despising harangue.
Children apparently suffered these kinds of indignities in the time of Christ also. Even Jesus' disciples had carelessly picked up the habit of treating children as half way between humans and animals. They were convinced that children were not worthy of the Master's attention and that they were doing Him a favor by keeping these not-yet-persons on the outer fringes of Jesus' admirers.
But Jesus knew what was happening in those young minds--that they were forming their most fundamental pictures of themselves. He wanted to protect that precious self-image within them, knowing that they would need it throughout their lives.
Yet there was another vital concern in Jesus' mind. He knew that in those tender years the children were building their basic understanding of their heavenly Father--an understanding that would be written deep in their minds and not easily changed by later verbal instructions. Children form their understanding of God far more through the relationship they experience with their parents than through the concepts spoken to them by those parents.
If parents despise or belittle the children, especially when in the process of disciplining, those children will grow up believing that God treats them in the same way. Who would love and trust such a God!
Never despise one of these little ones; I tell you, they have their guardian angels in heaven, who look continually on the face of my heavenly Father. Matt. 18:10, N.E.B.
Imagine that a local business executive and his wife are coming to your house for dinner. They ring the doorbell and, without looking up from the stove, you shout, "Wipe your feet as you enter; I don't want any mud on my carpet. And shut the door! You weren't born in a barn, you know." Later, as they eat around the table, you snarl at them, "Chew with your mouth closed. And remember, if you don't eat all your vegetables, you don't get any dessert."
The scenario is ridiculous, at first glance, because we sense that it simply wouldn't be appropriate to treat a dignified adult in that manner. But an equally heavy wave of embarrassment should hit us that we find it so easy to speak to our children in this way. Sensing that it is wrong to hurt the feelings of adults by speaking in bilittling ways, we wonder why we so readily try to control our children's behavior through this kind of despising harangue.
Children apparently suffered these kinds of indignities in the time of Christ also. Even Jesus' disciples had carelessly picked up the habit of treating children as half way between humans and animals. They were convinced that children were not worthy of the Master's attention and that they were doing Him a favor by keeping these not-yet-persons on the outer fringes of Jesus' admirers.
But Jesus knew what was happening in those young minds--that they were forming their most fundamental pictures of themselves. He wanted to protect that precious self-image within them, knowing that they would need it throughout their lives.
Yet there was another vital concern in Jesus' mind. He knew that in those tender years the children were building their basic understanding of their heavenly Father--an understanding that would be written deep in their minds and not easily changed by later verbal instructions. Children form their understanding of God far more through the relationship they experience with their parents than through the concepts spoken to them by those parents.
If parents despise or belittle the children, especially when in the process of disciplining, those children will grow up believing that God treats them in the same way. Who would love and trust such a God!
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