Caleb, our son, and his wife, Bekah, were talking about the Taliban shooting Americans at the airport. Maggie (3 years old) overheard and was asking questions about what happened. They just told her that “There were some bad people who were trying to hurt other people. But they were far away, and we don’t know them.” She said: “But Jesus doesn’t want them to hurt other people. Couldn’t we go tell them about Jesus? If we did though, they might just fly away…”
Such profundity often comes from three-year-old minds. Sometimes I wish we could cut to the chase in our assessments with the trusting world view of the little ones who believe in Him. She reflected some very powerful truths in that little overview of the Kabul crisis:
1. Jesus doesn’t want us to hurt people. Whatever course I am pursuing that is vindictive and hurtful, I should remember that I hurt Jesus when I hurt others (Matthew 25).
2. Couldn’t we go tell them about Jesus? Telling all the “thems” about Jesus is the answer to the gravest ills of our world. I should never stop telling, even when the devil tries to intimidate me with sin all around me, I have to just keep telling. Every opportunity cannot solve the problems of the whole world, but every opportunity, potentially, could take the burdens of the world from one.
3. If we did, though, they might just fly away. I am sure Mags was thinking about what she’d overheard about the airport, but there’s a sobering reality that the greatest and most sacrificial gift that’s ever been purchased for me may be the one I refuse to accept. I don’t want to be among those who have rejected the gift when the time comes for “flying away.”
So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 13:49,50).
