CHILDREN OR KIDS

[blessedbygod]

CHILDREN OR KIDS



"Hey kids, come on in, the old man's home now and supper's ready" mother yelled out of the back door.


If a book or an article would begin with the above phrase, what type of writing could you expect to be reading" What type characters would you picture in your mind as the subjects of that writing? Would it be the neatly kept home of a Christian, church type family man who just came home from his work, or might we think of a home where the parents go partying evenings and sleep in Sunday mornings?



What type of character testimony do we want to leave with others? There is no questions that our conversation has much bearing on the witness and testimony that we leave with others. As Christians we do well to keep from using the phrase "kids" in referring to children or "the old man/lady" in reference to older people, or parents.



Matt. 25:33

"And he shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.

V34 Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

V41 Then shall he also say unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels."

As shown by these verses the goats represent those who will be sorted out for eternal damnation. The dictionary describes "kid" as a young goat, or in slang, a child. It also describes slang as a figure of speech. Certainly there is no parent (or Christian for that matter) who would want any of their children to be classed as one of the cursed and scheduled to be cast into everlasting fire.



Why would we, as children of the living God who hope that all our children will someday go to heaven and be with us there, call children "kids"? There is no where in the scriptures that children are referred to as "kids". How would it sound if we as Christians would call ourselves "kids of God" rather than Children of God.



It has been done in the past somewhat innocently, possibly not fully realizing what it represents, but in our spiritual growth we do well to develop habits that leave good testimonies in our conversation with others.





OLD MAN OR DAD?



Eph. 4:22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;

v23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind

v24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Col. 3:9b....seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
v10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

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The scriptures describe "the old man" as the evil nature which is from the evil spirit. Surely no child of God would want to associate his earthly father with the evil spirit. Yet when we say "old man" we are referring to a person's evil nature and if the person is converted it would be referring to when he was living in sin and in a lost state.



If our father is the devil what does that make us? Children of the devil. Surely we want nothing, whatsoever, to do with him because there seem to be enough problems with the old nature within wanting to raise it's head and causing stumbling blocks in our spiritual relationship with God.



In Ephesians 4:24, the phase "which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness" and Colossians 3:10 "after the image of him that created him" refers to the new man created in the image of God both physically and spiritually. By referring to one who has the new spiritual nature as the "old man", might we be treading close to blasphemy? Certainly God expects us to respect His image of righteousness and true holiness which we should be striving to live up to.



Also read Exo. 20:12; Matt. 15:4; Eph. 6:1-4



May God bless us with strength and boldness that we will strive to be children of God created in His own image both physically and spiritually, that we may leave a testimony and witness that speaks to all we communicate with. It must be our desire to allow others to see Jesus in us and to allow His glory to shine forth. God bless you!









LAMBS OR 'KIDS'?



Oh the precious little children,

Placed here for our tender care;

Do we realize how little

Will on earth with them compare?



Jewels costly, rare and precious,

Never can their place refill;

When in years they leave their childhood,

Or when death will lay them still.



Little lambs they are for Jesus,

In their years of innocence;

We must guard these little jewels,

Lest they stray outside the fence.



Little lambs they are for Jesus

Leave the name of 'kids'outside

This was not what Jesus called them.

Nor should we this name ascribe.



If, when comes the separation

Goats are placed upon the left;

Don't be saying 'kids' for children.

Of their right they're not bereft.



Though to us it may seem common,

And no harm that we can see,

Yet we know by serious thinking,

That from Satan this must be.



Oh be careful! For the devil

Fast is claiming lambs his own;

Consecrate them all to Jesus

Let the lambs be His alone.









Poem by Irene E. Witmer from "The Shadows Tell"



Weaverland Publicatons

[rachel]

Thankyou for this post - it has given me much to think about! I must admit, for all that I tend to use more 'old-fashioned' languages, I used 'kids' to refer to 'children' almost all the time. I've never really thought of it before. When I hear the word 'kid' I tend to think of children rather than baby goats - so few people in this area have goats (in fact, I'm not sure anyone does - sheep and alpacas are far more common). I'll be trying hard not to use that terminology anymore!

As for the 'old man', I can see where you're coming from there. But in the scripture passage, I understand 'old man' to mean 'man that you were but are no longer due to Christ', and 'new man' to mean 'man that you are now due to Christ'. 'Old man' in reference to one's father or grandfather seems to imply 'man who is aged'. It would be interesting to see whether the two terms have different words in the original language.

I only say this because, in many places in Australia, 'old man' doesn't have the same negative meaning as it seems to in America. In the Aboriginal culture, 'old man' is a term of respect used only for one's elders. Even the country people tend to use 'old man' to refer only to one's grandfather or occasionally father, often with a hint of pride in their voice, "My old man fixed up the car for me.", or, "My old man's from 'round here. He knows the way back."

'Old man' is rarely used to directly address one's father, but is quite often used to address one's grandfather, and when it is, is almost never a negative term of address. Although this doesn't happen in 'white' communities, in the Aboriginal communities, one could address any elderly man as 'old man' rather than by their name, and they will appreciate it. Calling someone 'old' in that culture means that yes, they have lived a long time, but this simply means they are far wiser than you.

This said, I can quite clearly see what you're saying about both of these terminologies. 'Kids' I am definately going to try to get out of the habit of - I've never much cared for the term myself, but I think I used it a lot without quite realising it. 'Old man' might take a while longer - no matter what, I can't seem to shake the mentality that it's used as a term or respect and often affection, rather than condemnation.

Again, thankyou for the post. It has given much food for thought.

From Rachel.