The Worth of a Child

A shot from our VBS worship rally this morning (thanks Kyle Damron for taking this).  Vacation Bible School is a little different than it was in my day.  

We're in the midst of Vacation Bible School week here at WBC.   When I was a kid growing up in Hope Baptist Church, we sang special songs every year at VBS time.  One was “Jesus Loves the Little Children.”  Here at WBC, we sing that song every year at Christmastime in conjunction with the world missions offering.  You know how it goes, right?  “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world.  Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight.  Jesus loves the little children of the world.”  I once had a very good friend named Robert Casarez, who insisted that the song should say, “Red BROWN yellow, black and white…” and honestly, that’s how I sing it to this day.  This Sunday, we’re looking at the story from Scripture that gave birth to that song: Mark 10:13-16.  I’m in a series right now called Relationships in the Real World.  The past two Sundays, we talked about relationships between the genders.  In coming weeks, we’ll talk about relationships with people of other faiths, people of no faith at all, and the people we work with.  But Sunday, I want us to look at how our faith in Christ changes the way we relate to children.  This applies not just to parents, but all Christians.  We should see children through the eyes of God.  So as we get into the text, let’s look at three things: What does this reveal about how God sees children?  How did that change the ancient world?  And how do we as modern-day American Christians need to change the way we relate to children?