I read an article on child soldiers last week.

And…it breaks my heart. Not the article, the problem.

One of the first things I thought of was 1 Corinthians 13:11, “It's like this: When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child does. But when I grew up, I put away childish things.”

“When I grew up, I put away childish things.”

So where does this leave a little boy or girl who has been forced or recruited as a child soldier? For statistical purposes, child soldiers are considered to be children under the age of 18. No one is really sure how young the youngest child soldiers are, some say as young as 11, others 8 and I have even heard claims of children as young as 5. Five years old, are five year olds even big enough to carry AK-47s or M-16s? I mean I have a hard time shooting a gun that large, (and yes I have actually shot an AK-47 and M-16 more than once.)

But I think about this and wonder…what happens to their childhood…their chance to speak, think, reason and to have the faith of a child. For the most part, this doesn’t happen in America. Our military does not recruit citizens who are under 18 and on top of that military involvement in the United States is voluntary. But in countries where civil war, poverty, and long time conflicts are common the pool that the military is chosen from isn’t restricted to people over 18. In some places, it isn’t restricted at all. Children become dispensable. Useful to rebels because they can be easily forced to do what they are told. They can take their young minds and fill them with fear, a fear so great that the children are afraid to leave, afraid to be anything except a child soldier forced to kill and perform atrocious acts that will scar them forever. Forever abandoning their childlike faith…thoughts…actions…forced to grow up and forsake childish things.

In some countries more than a third of these children are girls. Children are chosen because they are physically and emotionally immature, easily manipulated. Children are more likely to become soldiers if they are poor, separated from their families, displaced from their homes, living in a combat zone or have limited access to education. Children join because they believe that the group will offer food or security. Many are forcibly recruited or abducted by armed groups. Often girls are raped or given to military officials as “wives.” Many are forced to the front lines or sent into minefields ahead of older troops. Some children are used for suicide missions. Some are forced to commit atrocities against their families to stigmatize them and prevent them from returning home.

We are failing children everywhere. We sit in our living rooms and watch TV and avoid looking at the things that remind us that there is an uncomfortable world out there. I think Jesus would be ashamed. The same Jesus who blessed the children when they were brought to him; and said that His promises were for them too.

I know they are a world away, but let’s be honest, you can call their world using your cell phone, you can be in their world in less than a day via airplane, you can watch what’s going on in their world on your television and you can read all about their world online…you can help. We all can.

Jesus told us to be lights….lights on a hill. The sun’s light reaches us from light years away and all we have to do is let our light shine to the world. It’s 100% possible. You just have to want to make that difference.

The article is here, and you can read more about child solders and how to help here and here too.