"Among the many letters Lewis received were thousands of fan letters from his young readers of The Chronicles of Narnia. The author believed that answering these letters was a God-given duty, and his replies reflect the concern and care that he brought to the task" (p. 4, "Letters to Children").
The letters are a joy to read. Lewis treats children squarely as equals, asking them serious questions, never trivializing their confusions. He is wholly genuine and kind.
That got me thinking about how much your treatment of children says about you. Even Hollywood perpetuates this idea. Last night I was watching a movie with a hero who was clearly deeply flawed, a depressed alcoholic whose emotions seemed a bit unbalanced. But near the beginning of the film, he interacts with a young girl in a selfless, surprisingly gentle way — and in so doing, he immediately endears himself to the watchers.
I see this every year at my church's VBS. I watch our handful of adult volunteers serve kids, teach kids, love kids, and respect kids. The parents see it too, and they love it. They realize that how you treat children reveals a great deal of your character.
Why is that?
I think it's because you don't get anything out of kids. Being kind to them doesn't give any material reward. So it reveals your deeper values — you respect the "least of these," the people in society who can't make you money or give you success or grant you popularity.
It's the same with the elderly. Why is helping an old woman across the street or with her groceries seen as a cultural token of goodwill? Because it's selfless. It doesn't do anything for you.
For the Christian, this selfless kindness is a direct implication of the gospel in our lives. Jesus displayed the most dramatic and drastic selflessness in all of history when He died for the ungodly. We get to be like Him in a little way when we treat children with kindness and compassion.
How Christians treat children says a lot about us — but it also says a lot about our God. He didn't just save the rich and famous, the rewarding and popular. He came for the outcasts, the impoverished, the broken, the obscure. He came for the least of these. He came for us.
Let that change how you view children.