In this book K.P.Yohannan shares the stories of children growing up in some of the poorest corners of our world AND how hope is being brought to them through a ministry called Bridge of Hope.
God used this book, and His word, to begin changing my heart in a big way and {I think} to prepare me for my summer in Mozambique.
You see, it didn't really open my eyes to anything new. I know the drastic situation so many millions of children are living in today.
I watched the movie {Slumdog Millionaire}.I have been to India and seen the desperation of the begging children.
I lived in Thailand and I knew the children that sold flowers on street corners late into the night and went home hungry too often.
I have seen the statistic that an estimated 2 million children in our world are being exploited through human trafficking.
But...
...this book opened my heart to just how important each of these little ones really is to our Heavenly Father.
Of course my heart was moved with compassion and a cry for justice for them before. But in chapter 3 of this book, K.P.Yohannan writes about the heart of God towards children revealed through the life of Jesus. He said in Mark 9 that if we receive a little child in his name, we receive Him and His Father. {Mark 9:36-37} In Mark 10 He is indignant when the disciples try to send the children away. Jesus invites them near to Himself and holds them up as an example. "Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all."
As I read this chapter in {No Longer a Slumdog} my heart was opened to the love and respect Jesus had towards children. Too often I get impatient or annoyed with my little sister. But I am to be like her - not look down on her or brush her off. We are all to look out for the ones that need defending or feed the ones that are hungry. God's heart is for the orphan to be cared for and for every child to know Him.
K.P. Yohannan writes:
"Are we willing to have our hearts break with His at such sights {poverty, loneliness, exploitation}, knowing these are children who suffer so much in this life and have no hope of heaven in the next, simply because they know nothing of the hope that is in Christ?
I believe, as followers of Christ, we are commanded to reach out to the least of these in the name of Jesus and show them they matter a great deal to God, who sacrificed His only Son to reach them with His love." {Chapter 3, pg.72}
I regret to confess that I was one of those people that brushed off children's ministry as "easy" or less important than other things. But God has been opening my heart and showing me that He cares so much for every single one of us, especially the smallest ones. Jesus died for every child just as much as He died for us "big, important" adults. Jesus said that whatever we do to the least of these, we do for Him {Matthew 25: 40}. What better way to obey His great commission to us than by bringing the least of these into His kingdom?
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