Despise Not Little Ones

>> Monday, September 13, 2010

I'll be honest. One of my first thoughts on this command was, "Despise not little ones? . . . Who despises kids?" I mean, clearly, some people are more gifted in dealing with children than others are - take my sister, for example. She doesn't just tell her class about Goliath. She makes Goliath. Plant a flower? Heh. She'll grow a garden. In fact, she'll travel 1,000+ miles and learn their language if it means reaching a little person's life for Christ. Even though some are less or more involved with children's lives, I don't believe I know one person who despises little ones . . . right? Well, then I remembered Hebrews 12:2, which says,


 "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of [our] faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."


What word would you use to replace "despise" in this verse? Did Jesus really have repugnance or contempt for the shame? Let me give you another perspective as we look at the original Greek. In both Hebrews 12:2 and in Matthew 18:10, the word for "despise" is kataphroneo, which means to look down upon, to regard as insignificant, or not worthy of consuming our time and energy. Jesus was not regarding the shame as hard to bear, but rather the opposite - it meant nothing to him for the sake of His objective! The word despise means to shrink in value, literally: to look down at (de-  "down" + specere  "look at").  Is this, perhaps, our attitude towards children? Do we mentally shrink their value?


Children represent the most usable people in God's eyes. They are weak. Dependent. Innocent. Teachable. Spotless from the polluted world around them. Think of the times that Christians cried out to God for a leader; Who did He send? Mighty warriors? Actually, he sent babies... such as Moses, Samuel and Jesus. God loves to take the unlikeliest hero and give him the most daunting challenge of all. Why? Because God gets the credit.




Children should be our role models in more ways than one. Granted, babies get away with a lot more than adults do... there's simply nothing to be desired about a 50-year-old crawling on his hands and feet drooling. But, there are attributes characteristic of children that Jesus treasured to the extreme. So much so that he said,

Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 18:2-4





Have you ever had the opportunity to minister to bereft children? A friend of mine, Lesley Hoover, recently traveled to China for this very cause! She writes,

Last month, I was blessed with the opportunity to travel to China and minister to hundreds of orphans, many of which had special needs or critical health problems. As I spent time with these precious little ones and grew to love them so much, I developed a deeper understanding of God's heart towards children. I have grown up around children and love them dearly, but this was a totally life changing perspective. I was hit in a powerful way with how deeply children matter to God and how deeply He loves each one. 


As I was talking with the head nurse, she told me that every child they receive is considered a 'dying child' in society. No good. Not worth caring for or about. No hope. And the last ones to ever be loved. Many of these children wouldn't even be alive today if not for those laboring in China to be the hands and feet of Christ to these precious little ones. Some of these orphans don't even get a chance to have a family. Children with Downs Syndrome, for example, aren't even put on the list for adoption. They are looked down upon their entire lives. The more I heard, the more my heart broke. I thought, How can this be? How can anyone consider innocent children as not worthy of life, love, or even a family? My mind could hardly comprehend how these children could not be loved or wanted just because they were 'different'. Each child is a precious testimony to the gift of life and dearly loved by our Lord and Savior. 

I thought of so many times in Scripture where children are said to be a gift - a blessing - and here they were, the very 'least of these' in society, despised and rejected. It broke my heart, and I can only imagine how terribly it must grieve the heart of God to see children looked down upon and rejected. They have done nothing to deserve such treatment! And then I thought of my Savior. He too, was looked down upon and rejected, though He didn't deserve it. This same Savior, Who felt what these children feel, Who went through what they are going through, tells us not to look down upon them. For their angels stand in the very presence of God Almighty. I thought of this as I held babies so tiny I could almost hold them with one hand. I thought of this as I walked along the roof and the Wall of Remembrance, praying as I read all the names - tiny little names. Each one the name of a little one who breathed their last without a family this side of Heaven. They are unknown to a world who said, "We don't want you...you aren't important to us." And I wept as I thought, As my God loves these precious little ones, I, who claim to bear His name, can do no less but love them as He does.

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