Our life is a sacred stewardship of life. This wasn’t known for many generations, but for a period children moved from a sacred trust to being like pets, so long as not loud or in trouble, left alone. Children are not pets. The last couple of decades kids are now treated as accessories. Pre-marriage conversations moving from how many kids to if kids, to how to avoid them. Children are not fashion accessories. One of the earliest commands in Scripture is to be fruitful and multiply. Why? Because life is a sacred stewardship of life.

The emotional tonnage on children

I once saw a Mother’s Day card that thanked Mom for not aborting the child. Dry humor. We live in a time when children carry the weight that they could have easily been rejected. I heard lectures, read articles, heard debates about how having children is detrimental to the environment. We live in a time when children carry the weight of their existence being destructive. Then there is the cry for no kids on planes, ships, restaurants, church services… We live in a time where freedom from kids is viewed as peace. Add to this the fatherlessness problem, divorce, bizarre stuff happening in education, bizarre political polarization dividing families, and now responses to trials when a mother murders her own children. This is the reality we weigh children with.

Satan hates kids, God loves kids

Destroy the family and valuing children and Satan wins. Satan’s aim, as seen throughout Scripture, is to destroy. God’s view is that children are part of building. They are a blessing in the stewardship of life He granted to humanity. God designed us biologically and emotionally towards children, but we too often go against that. In the Gospel of Mark there are two instances where children were a problem. Jesus countered that with two clear statements: The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. Anyone who welcomes a child in my name welcomes me. There is no other ministry with such strong wording. Jesus’ brother, James, wrote that perfect religion before God is to take care of the fatherless. Malachi at the end of his prophecy said that revival comes when the hearts of the fathers turn towards their children and the hearts of the children towards their fathers. Why? There is no greater picture of who God is than a father loving and caring for his children.

Speak up

We need to speak up for the necessity and blessing children are. Cultures’ orientation to children is cancerous to our soul and it is destructive to children. Neither is good. Treating children as fashion accessories, the prevailing viewpoint, is something we need to repent of. Why? Because life is not about you! It never was. Children are not a disease, a nuisance, a hindrance, a drag, or a hamper on our lives or careers. By making children fashion accessories we are sanding away our humanity and our very souls. For much of human history it went without saying, we work to protect kids. That attitude needs to return.

Yeah, but…

Sixty years ago, this was not a debated, controversial topic. Biologically, we are made to reproduce. Biblically, the command to be fruitful and multiply was never rescinded. In fact, the writer of Hebrews said the marriage bed is honorable. Jesus welcomed children. Paul and James taught on the importance of children. We ask why people are so mean today. Maybe because the one group of people who teaches us the joy of the little things and the importance of kindness are children. The one group of people who slow us down in a society that is moving too fast is children.

Our generational sin

Each generation has a significant sin struggle. Treating children as fashion accessories and not a sacred stewardship of life is ours. We must repent of this for our own souls’ sake. We must lift the undue burden we placed on children. Our disposition towards children is inorganic and caustic to all humanity. Working with nature and God’s design brings peace and blessings. Some of these blessings will hit you and yell “TAG! YOU’RE IT!”

That is not a nuisance; it is life. They are beautiful and good.

The ones who give bouquets of dandelions when they are young…

Roses on our caskets when we pass on…