This is a picture of a rare species.
They are endangered.
I know they're cute but for some reason people don't want them anymore.
You're not going to believe this, but people actually kill them when they're inside their mother's womb!
Not only that, but people do everything they can to not have too many of them.
I know this one may look sweet but don't be fooled. They cause a lot of problems and get in the way of what people really want in life.
What people really want is freedom.
Freedom from concern for other people.
Freedom from responsibility.
Freedom from serving.
Freedom from putting our self last.
I'm sure you understand why these species are so rare. They just really don't let us be as selfish as we want to be.
I'm kind of joking. Kind of not.
Today I was at the YMCA and the only one with a baby. I didn't see any babies anywhere. Not in the parking lot and not inside the building.
Then we left and went to a restaurant to meet some friends for lunch at lunch time (in other words it was busy). But again, there were no babies.
Not one, except mine. I was thinking about all of this and when I walked out of the YMCA there were these two women standing by the door and they exclaimed: "it's a baby! It's a baby!" I'm not kidding. That really happened. I felt like I had some sort of zoo animal that was almost extinct. And in a way it does seem more like we are going in that direction.
In fact, according to John Hopkins: "In 2024, the U.S. recorded its lowest ever fertility rate of 1.6 births per woman, following a downward trend in fertility rates starting in the early 2000s, and it is consistent with a global decrease in fertility rates."
This isn't surprising in the world because I can see why children are pests getting in the way of our own agendas and kingdoms, but for the Christian this should not be the case.
I met with a young woman yesterday that wants to be a boy and has been endeavoring to do so for the last few years. I said something that kind of shocked her. I told her: "I didn't really feel like having more than two children. If my flesh had its way I would have had one boy and one girl.
But instead I have 11 children because God said they're a gift and reward and so I believe it not because I feel it. But because that's what the Word says. You may feel like a boy but God made you a girl and so my hope is you will go against your feelings and walk in faith according to the way God made you."
That's what the Christian life comes down to. We don't make decisions based on our feelings. Otherwise we will constantly be going against the Word of God. We make decisions based on what the Word of God says. God says children are a blessing and reward and gift from Him and therefore I believe it.
I hope and pray the church at large will embrace what God says about children and not what the world says. After all, isn't this little species pictured adorable?
