We sometimes hear the rather foolish comment that “It’s a man’s world.”

That peculiar remark seems to be made in reaction to excesses of power and violence demonstrated by some men. But sinful instances of unjust power and violence exerted by men never leave the circles of this world.

Sin is locked within the circumference of the fallen natural world, and cannot reach to heaven. It cannot participate in divine eternity. Cruel displays of power and violence don’t pass the boundaries of the world and only further stain its landscape.

Sin is alienated from the supernatural, and is a form of self-delusion, a false image of force that is actually self-defeating weakness. Exercises of sin can’t lead to heaven, yet they might lead … elsewhere; to that place where evil is destined to reside forever.

Sinners only get to heaven through the forgiveness of God and a contrite heart, rather than a prideful one.  This is a requisite to mercy.

No, this is not “a man’s world.” It is a child’s world. The world has been made for the nurturance and love of children. The world is designed to bring children into it and to foster their growth, to protect them from dangers and to give space and support to their talents and their wonder at the surprises of this world!

The path from earth to heaven is traveled by children, and children of all ages.

God did not enter the world to save it as its king, but as its child. In fact, He tells us that the kingdom of God belongs to children.

An argument arose among the disciples about which of them was the greatest. Jesus realized the intention of their hearts and took a child and placed it by his side and said to them, “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me. For the one who is least among all of you is the one who is greatest. (Lk. 9:46-48)

We come to the side of Jesus as a child and receive Him and His father. The child who is the least, not the disciple striving to be the greatest, is the greatest in the eyes of God.

I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and learned you have revealed them to the childlike. (Lk. 10:21)

The most important supernatural truths are revealed to the child-like, rather than to those who see themselves as wise and learned and deserving.

People were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them, and when the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. Jesus, however, called the children to himself and said, “Let the children come to me and do not prevent them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it. (Lk. 18:15-17)

Children, and adults who approach God in the reliant and trusting manner of a child, are those welcomed into the kingdom, not those who falsely act as God’s gatekeepers.

He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said, “Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me. (Mt. 18: 2-5)

Go and gaze with astonishment at the glory of the innocence and openness to love of a young child. The world has been tainted by sin, yet the child enters unstained and in need of the encompassing embrace of love.

The duty of adults is to reduce the sin in the world, not to use sin as an imagined way of overcoming the world. Our task is to turn and become trusting and dependent on the love and protection of our Heavenly Father in order to enter into His kingdom.

The world is made for children and belongs to children, and heaven is the same. Our job as adults is to serve the needs of children. To do that, we need to understand that this is a child’s world.

Adults must turn from the sins of seeking power over others and viewing unjust violence as a proper means to a proper end. The proper end has already been prepared for us, if we might be willing to cast off our false crowns, and humble ourselves to an appropriate recognition of our need for our heavenly father’s loving welcome home.

copyright 2026 Tom Medlar

Edited by Sarah Pedrozo