The Things Kids Say

The other day I went walking with my two grandsons and my mother (G.G.). Along their route they found many flowers to pick. G.G. kept telling them not to pick the flowers, that they would die. But, being kids, they wanted to pick them anyway. When we finished walking we stopped at Wendy's for a bite to eat. Of course, the flowers were left out in the car. When we got back to the car I saw the wilted flowers lying there. I told Jeremiah his flowers had died. He turned to me and asked, "Will they go to heaven?" I responded, "Sure, God probably likes flowers in heaven." Jeremiah looked at me with the most serious look and said, "Will roaches go to heaven too?" I had to laugh at the thought that those pesty little creatures would make it to heaven. But you know, it got me thinking about just how innocent our children are. They look at people and things and see the good in it when we can't. I'm sure that despite how pesty I think a roach is, there has to be some good there. After all, God created them for a reason, just as He created each one of us. It's time that we look at people through the lens of God's love and remember that all of us needed a Savior. I was reminded of this passage found in Luke 18:9-14:

Luk 18:9
Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:
Luk 18:10
"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
Luk 18:11
"The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank You that I am not like other men--extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector.
Luk 18:12
'I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.'
Luk 18:13
"And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me a sinner!'
Luk 18:14
"I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."


So, the next time we think we want to look down our noses in judgment at someone who we think is such a horrible sinner, we need to remember that we are equally guilty. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says: "God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." It is only through Christ that we become righteous.