God Loves Children
Scripture Reading — Malachi 2:15-16
Has not the one God made you? You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring.
God loves children. Every child is made in the image of God.
In the garden of Eden, even before sin entered he world, God made people as body and spirit together, and he made male and female to reflect his image in the world. God commissioned people to care for his world, to cultivate culture, and to be fruitful and multiply. We were designed to reflect God’s glory everywhere.
As a result, the children people produce are to be raised as citizens of God’s kingdom, using their gifts to glorify God. That is the core calling of all parents.
Whether by nature or by nurture, a baby usually closely resembles his or her parents, both physically and spiritually. If the parents cannot overcome their differences by means of a self-sacrificing love modeled after God’s love, then the child will often be burdened with a spirit of division and disharmony. After all, that’s what he or she will grow up with.
That’s what God was seeing in Malachi’s day. God’s desire for us, always, is that we be godly offspring, children who love and serve him in a self-sacrificing way. In our world today, much of the opposite is taking place.
What kind of spirit will you give Jesus today, as well as to the children around you? Will it be a spirit that helps both you and them grow closer to Jesus?
Dear Jesus, please fill us with your love, and make it contagious in our families and beyond. Amen.
About the author — Scott DeVries
Scott DeVries has served as a church pastor and as a ministry coordinator in the Holland, Michigan, area. He currently works at facilitating connections between the more than twenty ministries and 1,100 churches of the Christian Reformed Church in North America. He has a passion for prayer, church organization, and studying the Scriptures in their original languages.
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