Love children like Jesus

If you were to list your priorities, would giving attention to children figure in it? Let’s look at Jesus, the most active man while He walked on the face of the earth, healing the sick, delivering people possessed by evil spirits, teaching and preaching the gospel, and calling people to repentance to be in union with God.
Jesus’ life shows us God’s soft spot for children. Jesus was gentle and kind with children and passionate about protecting them from harm. Jesus always had time for children, and in fact, Jesus placed a child in the centre of our understanding of God. We live in a culture where children are often neglected because we think we cannot gain anything from them. However, there is much we can learn from them.
When the disciples asked Jesus, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Jesus called a little child to him and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me” (Matthew 18:1-5). Love demands that we take time out to prioritise what’s important to us.
In the Gospels, we see God’s tender heart for children. His willingness to devote time to them, His recognition of their societal status, and His zeal for protecting their innocence demonstrate His high regard.
Jesus demonstrates His compassion and love for children by raising Jairus’s daughter from the dead (Luke 8:41). Jesus was moved to compassion by Jairus’ faith and this girl’s untimely death to intervene. Are we moved with compassion at the suffering of millions of children, some even around us, and many trafficked for work as bonded labourers or shamelessly employed as sex workers? Let’s love children as Jesus did!