What Jesus Loves in Children…

Don’t you love children?  Years ago I heard a story about a little girl who, during a lightning storm, was running from window to window smiling widely at the sky.
Her mother said, “Rebecca, what are you doing?”

“I am smiling out the window!”

“Why in heaven’s name are you doing that?”

“Look at the flashes, Mom! God’s taking my picture!”

I am not sure that God was taking Rebecca’s picture. I don’t know that God needs a picture. He can always see us.

But I do believe that God has a heart that loves like a father, like a mother, like a grandfather, like a grandmother. He loves us as children. In an indirect way, Matthew 18:1-6 addresses this kind of love in God’s heart.

Compassionate Christianity…

A week or two ago, when Dave prayed at the close of the worship service at our church, he said something like, “God – thank you for the love that is in this room.” It made my day. That’s what should be here – always. Love is something that Christ expects to go beyond this room, beyond our church fellowship, and even beyond our Christian circles. As followers of Jesus, we’re to imitate him. That means loving as he loves.

How well does the Christian church do that?

Continue reading

Guarding Against “Attachment Disorder”

Last fall, I read an article in a Christian magazine about Eastern European children who have been adopted by American couples. The author noted that many such children have great difficulty clinging to their new parents. It seems that, in many cases, the abandonment they experience in the early years of their development causes them to have a problem trusting anyone – including the new parents. Their lives can be marked by hostility, inability to form close relationships, and distrust of people, particularly authority figures. These children can become self-destructive, highly sensitive to rejection and anger, and blame everyone close to them for the problems in their lives. Psychologists call this syndrome Attachment Disorder.

As I read it, I immediately realized that it’s not just Eastern European children who struggle with Attachment Disorder. Continue reading