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'Christ in You...'

    by Dale Krebbs

As Little Children
Date Posted: December 6, 2020

How do you feel about little children? How do you feel about today’s little children? Are these redundant questions, or - is there a difference...?

Probably your answers would be varied, and largely determined by the age of the respondent. This is a natural thing. We live in a natural world. Things are determined by the nature of the things, as we perceive them at a given moment of our time and our life. Please pardon a personal reference here. After my daughter was born, my wife and I stood on our driveway about sundown enjoying the evening breeze and cuddling this precious gift (she was a gift, a direct answer to prayer) in our arms. Nothing in this world could have been more important and valuable than this. It was a watershed moment for our lives life. - one that we could not possibly be comprehended at the time.

But suddenly a thought occurred to me that was exciting, but most of all, for some reason, it was foreboding . I then told my wife who had waited and longed and loved for eleven long and anxious years, that I had this very deep feeling that things would NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN.

They weren’t. We weren’t...

EVERYTHING began to change. We began to change, not in our nature or our love for each other, but somehow the whole world had taken a quantum shift of some kind. Relationships with others, relatives and friends, even acquaintances were altered - not for better or worse - just different. Our focus and emphasis had suddenly been redirected and centered on someone else, that very "significant other" that had just come into our lives. It was a turning point that could never be quiet duplicated or retuned to again And so it has been for billions before. God had built into the drama of having children what can be learned and pictured in no other way. It can be taught and explained, but it is very difficult to wrap the mind around any other way. What a marvelous plan God has devised for procreating the human race! It is no wonder then, that Jesus said these words: "But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God" (Mark 10:14)

Jesus certainly did not mean that ONLY children would enter the Kingdom Children - especially children of the age of those that Jesus took up in His arms - do not possess a great deal of understanding. So this is an allegory in some way of those who WILL understand, and who WILL enter the Kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 14:20). When one reflects upon the characteristics of a small child - a child who is too young to have absorbed the worst of a sinful world system - we can begin to see what and who WE as adults must become. In one way, you and I must somehow return, and once again become a little child!

In this episode of Jesus and the little children, we have a complete microcosm of how God deals with us to bring us into His Kingdom! (Matthew 18:1-4) But first, lets consider some of the wonderful and positive characteristics of a little child - and some of the negative - because this is what Jesus was teaching His disciples to do. You will notice that the little children WANTED to come unto Jesus. We must understand this in the antitype. Jesus also said that none can come to Him unless the Father draws him/her (John 6:44). Notice that the children obviously are not arguing and scuffling over WHO WOULD BE FIRST (Mark 9:35). This is the way of some small children - and sadly, this seems to the way of some "small" adult Christians as well. Most of us have felt jealousy and envy swelling up inside of us because we were not considered "first" in something. I remember feelings like this in school when sides were chosen for athletics (I was almost always the last). But this is not the way of a child of God!

Small children are basically UNPRETENTIOUS. They have not yet learned to pretend in order to get what they want. There is no duplicity. There is no deceit. But make no mistake - the ABILITY to develop these negative characteristics are there in their natures. But it is a pleasant thing to observe them before this happens. Some adults are more fictitious in nature than others, depending a plethora of influences and circumstances of life. "Get real" has been a catch-phrase for many years, which shows that duplicity is not REALLY appreciated, even by those who are also pretentious. Unpretentiousness is one characteristic that the children of God MUST DEVELOP. God is unpretentious! He is straightforward. Some feel that to be straightforward is a synonym for being "mean spirited" - but what could be more mean spirited than being a fraud?! One is what you say or do. The other is how you say or do. Personally (it may be just me), I believe that getting "real" is one of the most difficult struggles that Christians have. - but again, it is something that must be - and it must be accomplished by Jesus in us. As an adjunct to "get real" there is also "get a life". Indeed. We must ALL BECOME AS LITTLE CHILDREN AGAIN if we are to receive life again when this life is over (Psalm 131:1-2).

There will be no hypocrites in the Kingdom of God! (Matthew 23:13-29)

There is a corollary with what has been covered. Being a little can be dangerous. They are in many, many ways helpless, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. This is so in large measure BECAUSE they are unpretentious, open, and accepting. And so it is with God’s children! They are often used, misused, and abused by others. As the Apostle Paul said, we are often considered the off scouring of the world, unspoken if not spoken. and considered "fools for Christ’s sake". If so, we are the FAVORED-Foolish-Few in His sight! Children can be tricked and deceived very easily - it is the hallmark of their innocence. There was innocence in the Garden until sin entered in. There has been none sense. But WOE be unto those by whom God’s children are so treated (Matthew 18:5-10)! This also applies to how we - as God’s little children (I hope and pray it is not uncomfortable for us to be called "little children" of God) treat each other. There is a chilling warning that Jesus gives concerning how we treat each other, again within the context of His comments about children (Luke 17:1-4).

So, what shall we finally say to these things? Be began as infants, as little children, and in really in so many ways, we are now just larger "children" After all, the difference is often truthfully described in "the difference between men (or women) and boys is the cost of their toys", and whoever has the most when they die, WINS! Many just become children again, in every way - except spiritually. They have become the wrong kind of children again. Once an adult, and twice a child as the proverb goes . This must not be for those who name the name of Christ in their lives. We put away this childishness (1 Corinthians 13:9-13

There will be no hypocrites in the Kingdom of God! (Matthew 23:13-29)

Are you becoming a little child again? Are you willing, regardless of your age in years, to become a child again - not the child you once were, but the child of the God who can make you grow up to inherit all that He made you for?

If so, one more thing is required...

"There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be BORN AGAIN, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" - John 3:1-5

I pray that we all become as little children... our Father is anxiously waiting for things to "never be the same again".

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Biography Information:
Dale Krebbs served as an Elder, preaching, counseling, and conducting Bible studies for over 25 years in Texas, California, and Arizona. He is now retired, lives in Arizona, and continues the study and research of Gods Word.