Volume 27, Issue 3
WisconsinChristianNews.com
Page 21
God’s Dear Children
That little child illustrated perfectly what those men needed to become if they were going to be useful in His kingdom. An older child cannot be used to illustrate what Jesus wanted to teach. Older children begin to concern themselves with their own place in the grand scheme of life. They are trying to gain a following or be a part of a popular group. Rejection and acceptance are heavy factors in their life.
lems it causes.
Him. Self ruins the dearness of any relationship.
Self causes marriage problems. It disrupts the smooth function of the home. It is often at the bottom of fi- nancial problems. It hinders church fellowship. Self can be religiously carnal. It may conform to established norms, yet all the while chaffing and underhandedly rebelling. It is not dif- ficult to see that such conduct does not belong to dear children. This is the conduct of those who have ad- vanced to the stage where they have the potential to become very obnox- ious. It is a time when parents must exercise much discipline. It is the same with God. Those He loves, He chastens. Since self is never completely dead, God needs to chastise us. It is very sad when His children cannot discern His chastening. People blame circum- stances. They blame other people for their failures or for their misfor- tune. They cannot see God because they have allowed self to be en- throned again in their heart. We can- not be His disciple unless we deny self, take up our cross and follow
Walk in love. Love is a choice. We love God or we do not love God. We love our brother or we do not love our brother. We may try to deceive ourselves about our love, but we cannot deceive God. Our life must be a continual decreasing as Christ increases. When that is the case, a sweet aroma will go forth from our self-sacrificing life that we will not re- ally be aware of, but God and those around us will be aware of it. We will be one of God’s dear children hap- pily working with the Father, living with the sweet abandon that little children know. “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor.” Rod & Staff Publishers W6053 County Rd. X Withee, WI 54498 (715) 229-9400
By Isaac D. Martin Summer 2026
master being cured of his leprosy. (2 Kings 5). She did not say possibly or maybe. She simply said of the prophet Elisha, “he would recover him of his leprosy.” You can tell a lit- tle child stories of God’s miracles and he has no problem believing. For that reason, it is a sin of colossal proportion to tell children the myths of Santa Claus as though it were true. To lie to any child about any- thing is offending that child. Jesus said; “But whoso shall offend one of these little one which believe in Me, it were better for him that millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” Where children have a good rela- tionship with their father, they love to be with him and watch what he is doing or even help if they can. Of course, they are more of a hindrance than they are a help usually, and be- cause the father loves them and loves to have them around, he gladly tolerates the inconvenience. All the while the youngster is observing what the father is doing and how he does it. He is impressed with the ability and the ease with which his fa- ther accomplishes difficult tasks. He “worships” his father. In consideration of the character- istics of little children, the question is forced upon me: Am I following God as a dear child? Do I worship my heavenly Father with the sweet abandon of a little child? Do I rest in the fact that my Father can do any- thing but lie? Do I glory in the su- perlative character of my Father: that He is the best, the greatest, the most kind, the most loving and caring; that He knows everything, is always near to help me? Jesus had a reason for taking a little child and setting him in the midst of His quarreling disciples.
Suspicion is a very active part of their life. They love and hate on the basis of what they suspect. They concern themselves more with their position among their peers than they do their relationship to their parents. Those years are critical for both par- ent and child. To be converted and become as a little child means that we must expe- rience a drastic change at the very center of our life. As the Apostle Paul put it: “old things are passed away and behold all things are become new.” We are new creatures in Christ. If we are in Christ, His love enfolds us and makes us content. It is our re- sponsibility to walk in love. Our texts command us to walk in love as Christ loved us. There is a supernatural element to Christ’s love that man cannot ob- tain unless he has the Holy Spirit. With the Holy Spirit filling our heart, we can walk in love and be a living sacrifice, even as Jesus. Consider the sweet aroma that flowed forth from the life of Jesus. What was it? Was it not the complete absence of what we call “self?” He was a living sacrifice. He went about doing good. He made Himself of no reputation whereas we humans are concerned about reputation. The New Birth does not annihi- late self. For that reason, Jesus said if we will be His disciples we must deny self daily. We must take up our cross daily and fol- low Him. We cannot follow God as a dear child any other way. Each morning, we choose to fol- low Christ instead of self. Far too often we fail to reckon with the presence of self and the prob-
“Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet- smelling savor.” Ephesians 5:1-2. Dear children are distinguished from ordinary children or rebellious chil- dren. Certain characteristics make children dear. It is important to the Christian to understand what those characteristics are. The word “dear” is thrown around rather loosely among English speak- ing people. Words lose their power and meaning when used without dis- cretion. For that reason, we need to consider what we mean when we use very familiar words in our writing and teaching. Dear children are those that are highly loved by their parents and who very much love their parents. It is a reciprocal relationship that is a pleasure to all involved. The dearest children are those little ones just old enough to believe that their father is the greatest, the best, the most powerful, the wisest, the kindest person alive. They can only think in the superlative terms as it re- lates to their father. As these little children enter their teens, they begin to think differently. They want to be independent. They want to run their own lives and this brings them into conflict with the authority that God put over them. That is why they must be converted and become as little children in order to be saved. Little children are very direct in their faith. The little captive Hebrew maid that served Naaman’s wife had no doubts about the possibility of her
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