The other day I over heard this spritual lesson from one child to another. I love these little tidbits of life and I don’t want to forget them. Plus, many times, they can speak volumes to our lives as adults. Children see things as black and white. They think in such concrete ways and we as adults allow stress, comfort, social ideologies and such to cloud our thinking.
Here is how the conversation went –
Katherine (4) – Is he (pointing to the guy in Josiah’s hand) the bad guy?
Josiah (6) – Yes, he is the bad guy in this game.
Katherine – Okay, this good guy is gonna kill that bad guy cause he is bad, bad, bad.
Josiah – No, Katherine, no one should kill him. Cause even police officers don’t kill bad guys just cause they’re bad. Do you know why they don’t kill all the bad guys?
Katherine – No
Josiah – Well, Katherine, the Bible tells us to love our enemies. And do you know who enemies are? They are bad guys. But we can’t kill them, we have to love them even though they are bad. Because that is what the Bible says and so that is what we do.
Katherine – Oh okay. Well, my good guy is going to take that bad guy to jail then. But he won’t kill him or hurt him. He will love that bad guy while he is over here in the jail.
What a conversation, huh? But just stop for a minute and think of the truth of that. We as adults can be so harsh in our judgments of each other. And moms are so very bad for this. We are so quick to judge feeding habits, sleep choices, education choices, and even family size. And yet the Bible tells us to love our enemies and we are this harsh with people that we call our “friends”.
Children are so accepting of others no matter background, race, lifestyle, or looks. And we could all take a lesson from them. We are bombarded each and every day with images and articles that convery the “my way/belief is right and anyone that disagrees with me is just wrong” type of attitude. These encourage us to pass judgements quickly and harshly. But that is so opposite what the Bible teaches.
So, today, let’s learn a lesson from the children and love each other. We can make the world a better place for someone today by sharing a smile, paying for the person behind us in the drive through, or just making a phone call to someone that you know is struggling. Resist the urge to judge and instead love as Christ.
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