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It matters how you treat children. I have to tell you a story.
From 2005-2010 we lived in a nice neighborhood in North Delhi, India.
On the corner a couple stood and ironed clothes all day. They still do today!

There were about four families in our block that did this and their kids just hung around and attended the government school. They were dirty and rowdy and the neighbors did not understand why I hung out with them. But they were friendly and didn’t know anything about Jesus.

I was reading in Luke 14:12:
Then he turned to the host. “The next time you put on a dinner, don’t just invite your friends and family and rich neighbors, the kind of people who will return the favor. Invite some people who never get invited out, the misfits from the wrong side of the tracks. You’ll be—and experience—a blessing. They won’t be able to return the favor, but the favor will be returned—oh, how it will be returned!—at the resurrection of God’s people.”

So I kept making friends with them and inviting them over to tell them about Jesus and have tea. I also went to their house for birthday parties and I took photos for them and made photo albums for them. I also gave them a children’s bible. I did not speak very good Hindi but I did my best to reach them.

I also taught English in a slum nearby my house and that family that ironed the clothes lived nearby. I tried to connect them to the believers I knew.

Then today in 2021, I asked one of the boys from the same neighborhood who is now a leader in a vineyard church in Wazipur if he could try to find that family that ironed the clothes.
Within a few hours, he found them through another friend!

We did a video chat and I found out that the little boy Gaurav graduated from college and does accounting. He is married and so is one of his sisters. She has twin boys.

He remembered everything we did for them with much joy!

Matthew 25 says:
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

So I just want you all to know that how you treat children matters and you will be rewarded for welcoming them into your home.

Let’s do the stuff Jesus tells us to do each day no matter how small it is! We are His hands and feet!