I once read an essay, written by an eight-year-old boy named Danny Dutton.

The boy’s third-grade teacher asked her students to explain “God,” prompting his essay: “One of God’s main jobs is making people. He makes these to put in the place of the ones that die so there will be enough people to take care of things here on earth. He doesn’t make grown-ups, just babies. I think because they are smaller and easier to make. That way He doesn’t have to take up His valuable time teaching them to walk and talk. He can just leave that up to the mothers and fathers. I think it works out pretty good.

“God’s second most important job is listening to prayers. An awful lot of this goes on, as some people, like preachers and things, pray other times besides bedtime, and Grandpa and Grandma Dutton pray every time they eat (except for snacks). God doesn’t have time to listen to the radio or TV on account of this. As He hears everything, not only prayers, there must be a terrible lot of noise going on in His ears unless He has thought of a way to turn it off. I think we should all be a little quieter. God sees everything and hears everything and is everywhere. Which keeps Him pretty busy. So, you shouldn’t go wasting His time asking for things that aren’t important or go way over your parents’ heads and ask for something they said you couldn’t have.”

That humorous essay reminds us: children are truly a blessing from the Lord.

I have been blessed with two of my own: my son, Corey, who is attending Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine in Erie, Pennsylvania, and my daughter, Lauren, who lives in Ashland, Kentucky, with her husband, Ben, and their 3-year-old son, Matthias Alexander “Xander” Daniel.

My wife, Crystal, and I used to hear grandparents tell us that grandchildren bring a different kind of love with them. We never quite understood what they meant until Xander came along.

Now we can testify: he’s got “Poppy” and “Mimi” wrapped around his little finger!

Children were an important part of Jesus’ ministry as well.

Matthew chapter 18 tells us: “The disciples came to Jesus and asked, ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, ‘Surely, I say unto you, unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one such little child in my name also receives me.’”

You see, God gave us children not just to raise but to give us a glimpse of Heaven.

The only way we can approach God is with child-like faith.

We must believe that He loves us enough to send His very own Son to die on a cross for our sins so that we can have everlasting life.

Rev. Doug Johnson is the senior pastor at Raven Assembly of God in Raven, Virginia.