Jesus and the little children

Pregnancy is usually a wonderful time in the life of a woman. However, there are circumstances that make people feel like they either aren't ready for a child or should end the child's life for the child's own good. What can we learn from God's word about how he feels about children and His plans for them?

1. Who made us?

We are told that God created our inmost being and knit us in our mothers' wombs. (Psalm 139:13) This tells us that while there are biological, chemical, and physiologic changes involved, it is truly God that creates us.

2. Who hates little children?

Certainly not Jesus, who told the little children to come to Him. (Matthew 19:14). We do find that evil people throughout history have hated little children including Pharoah (Exodus 1:22), King Herod (Matthew 2:16), and others (Leviticus 18:21, 2 Kings 17:31, 2 Chronicles 28:3, 33:6, Ezekial 16:20-21, 23:39)

3. What does God have planned for The people He created?

He sent Jesus to save all of the people who believe in him. (John 3:16) He has a plan to prosper His children and not to harm them...to give us a hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11).

We may not always understand how God will use what we view in the moment as a mistake or tragedy, but He will. This is because He is God and His ways are higher than ours. (Isiah 55:9) So, whether a child is conceived in celebration or horrible circumstances or if the child is predicted to have a short and/or difficult life, it is not a surprise to God. He has a plan for that child and that child may touch more lives than any "normal or planned" child ever will.

What will you do to stand up for these little children who cannot defend themselves?

Love people, not sin

There has been a lot of thoughts put out about Christianity and homosexuality in the past few months. I think this is actually ignoring a lot of other issues that affect many more people and will try to address the larger framework briefly here:

1. I am to love my neighbor as myself. (Matthew 22:37-40) To do that I have to know what kind of person is my neighbor and who am I?

2. We have ALL sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23) This doesn't sound like a big deal, because who's perfect, right? Well it is a big deal, because our sin makes us unable to live in Heaven with God without accepting Jesus' sacrifice for my sins and His Lordship over my life.

3. So that means I'm good to do whatever I want as a Christian, right? Not quite. When Jesus prevented the women caught committing adultery from getting stoned, he didn't encourage another affair. He told her to "sin no more". (John 8:1-11) When he met the Samaritan woman at the well living with a man out of wedlock, he didn't celebrate her "independence". Instead He offered her the "Living Water". (John 4) We are not called to celebrate sin, but to love sinners and point people toward Jesus because they need Him, like I need Him.

So, this means that we are to love people because we are all sinners in need of the Saviour. Being saved doesn't excuse sinning and we certainly don't celebrate sinning. But we don't let Satan rule our future with our past either, we go forth with the goal to sin no more.

What are you doing to make sure that people still feel your love while hating sin?