Children: What Does God Call Them?

As our babies came along, what to call them was not something I really thought about, or planned, besides their names, of course.

It was after entering the circle of homeschoolers that how I referred to our offspring was called into question. That is when I took a mental journey back in time to my teen years.
Circa 1980: riding in the W. family van to their home on a Sunday afternoon. All of us girls, 4-5 of us, were in the back being, well, teen girls-laughing, talking, giggling. One of us, said “kids” in reference to the little people who rode the bus or were in junior church. That word, “kids”, didn’t get past Mrs. W.
“Kids are goats! Not people!” she declared. That was Mrs. W.’s way of letting you know that you’d crossed a line with her.
Any shame we felt was short-lived and we went on with our girlishness, without giving her comment a second thought.

That wasn’t the first time I’d heard Mrs. W. use that tone with regards to the subject of people under the age of 18. It wasn’t the last either. However, like most in their mid-teens, I would hear but not hear. Like Mommy says, “In one ear, and out the other.” That sums it up.

Progressing from then, to the mid 1990’s, I was confronted with What Does God Call Our Children?
There was the “kid” thing again. Only this time, because I was a Mom of 3, it went in one ear, and got stuck. The LORD had prepared my mind and heart to listen. He knew I was ready to hear.

This might seem trivial to you, but words are important. Isn’t that why we King James Bible Believers stand against other versions?

Words are important. Not just the written word, but words we speak.

Proverbs 18:21, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof”

What we call our children is important. What God calls them is even more important.
I shudder at the newest, trendy slogan on baby clothes and wares. “Little Monster” might seem funny, or cute, but how many parents are raising little monsters? How many of those parents are Christians who think it is harmless?

God says something different. When it is convenient, we are quick to say that we are “in the world and not of it”, that we are “pilgrims and strangers” but do we believe it? Do we live it?
Are we supposed to adopt the world’s terminology? What about Romans 12:2?

“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

The reason we are republishing this article is to edify, exhort, and if need be, rebuke, our Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, not to argue over words. The text and Hebrew citations belong to the original author; all non-KJV Bible quotations have been removed.

Without reservation or regret, I choose to call my children what God calls our children. Will you?
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WHAT DOES GOD CALL OUR CHILDREN?


By Nancy Campbell

The most common word for 'children' in our society today is the word 'kids'. Is this a word that God has chosen to call our children? We do not see it anywhere in the Bible in relation to children. In fact, if you check the 1928 Webster's Dictionary you will not find this word for children. 'Kids' is a modern word, which has been added in later years.

I have to confess that for a long time, I also used this word. I did not like the word and never felt that it was right, but I succumbed to the trend around me. Oh, how easy it is to do things just because everyone else is doing them, without thinking whether it is actually the best thing to do!

However, there came a time when I was challenged. A number of years ago I read an article about a sheep farmer in New Zealand. This farmer had diversified into raising goats, as well as sheep, and he noticed an interesting comparison. The ewes remained close to their lambs, watching them while they fed. He noticed, however, that the goats would herd their young together in one spot on a knoll of a hill and leave them, while they went off to forage for the day. They did not provide the same individual attention, which the sheep gave to their offspring.

My mind ticked over as I read this, but before I accepted it, I thought I should check out if it was really true. I asked my father who is an authority on sheep. He was the World Champion Sheep Shearer in his younger days and has shorn over a million sheep in his lifetime.

"Yes," he said, "Sheep will never go further than earshot from the little lambs."

I was very challenged. Has 'kids' become the accepted word for children today, because we have become a generation of 'goat mothers'? Instead of staying close to their lambs, thousands of mothers are dropping them off at nurseries and day care and going off to fulfill their own careers. This is 'goat mothering.' No wonder we call our children 'kids'!


THE CHARACTER OF GOATS


A lady in Australia, shared with me that she and her husband used to hunt wild goats for a living in out-back New South Wales. She observed that in the face of danger the nanny goat would leave her little kids unprotected and run from danger to save herself. And yet the sheep, which is a docile animal, will protect its young. While walking around the ewes and lambs with my father in New Zealand a couple of years ago I noticed a little new-born lamb, struggling to its feet for the first time. I crept right up to it to get a picture. The mother ewe was scared of me and ran away a couple of yards, but because of her protective instinct over her lamb, she came right back to guard her baby, even though she was afraid! She was a protecting mother who would not leave her young.

Another thing this lady in New South Wales noticed was that the goats were cowards and would give up easily. When they caught the goats live, they would turn them over onto their backs. She said that the goats did not struggle. Their eight-year-old daughter was able to put her foot on the goat's neck and it waited until they came to tie it up.

A farmer's wife from New Zealand wrote to me, "Over many years we have raised lambs on our land and indeed the sheep are wonderful mothers. This year, for the first time, we had goats and baby kids. One Sunday, as we drove in the front gate we heard a loud bleating and stopped to check. There, on top of the hill were young twins, brown and white and no mother anywhere at all. My eight-year-old son was very worried and kept going back to check. After two hours they were cold and getting weaker so we heated bricks, wrapped in newspaper, and went to warm them and prepare to feed these ‘orphans.’ When we arrived, there to our amazement, was the mother, who was not dead, but had simply gone off to feed. She must have continued this neglect because not long after, the little white kid was taken by a fox." I am sure we do not want to be classified as one of these goat mothers!

This is certainly not the kind of character we want to speak into our children either, is it? Do we really want them to be like 'kids'? We used to have a pet goat when we were children, and although we loved ‘Jilly' she was the biggest problem of our lives. We were always in trouble with neighbors as she would get into their gardens and eat their flowers, vegetables and trees - and their clothing hanging on the line! We were not very popular! Goats by nature are independent, proud, rebellious, destructive and yet cowardly in the face of danger.


THE CHARACTER OF SHEEP


God always likens His people to sheep, who by nature are meek and submissive.


· Psalm 79:13, “So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks forever.”

· Psalm 95:7; 100:3, “We are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand.”

· Isaiah 53:6, “All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way.”
 Psalm 119:176, 1 Peter 2:25.

· John 10:1-15, “He calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out... he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.”


Even Jesus Himself is likened to a sheep because of His total submission to the Father’s will.


· Isaiah 53:7, “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, and yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.”

· John 1:29, “Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”


GOD SEPARATES THE SHEEP FROM THE GOATS


The people whom God calls 'goats' are those He separates from His company.


· Zechariah 10.3, "I punished the goats: for the Lord of hosts hath visited His flock..."

When God visits His flock, He will separate the sheep from the goats and punish the goats! The goats and the sheep are in the flock together, but only one belongs to Him - the sheep. We noticed this when we visited Israel a number of times and saw the Bedouin shepherds with their little flock of goats and sheep. They both look alike, and from a distance you cannot tell the difference. In the church today the goats and sheep are all in the flock together, but there will come a day when God will visit His flock, and He will separate the one from the other.

Ezekiel 34:17 And as for you, O my flock, thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, between the rams and the he goats.

Matthew 25:31-46. "When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory: and before Him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: and he shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left....and these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal."

Wow! After realizing all this I decided that I did not want to be part of the goat company. I did not want to impose the goat character upon my children. Our children should be different from the children of the world. I therefore made an effort to stop using the word 'kids'. Now I find that it grates upon me when I hear it.



That is the negative. What about the positive? If 'kids' is not the kingdom word for our children, what can we call them?


How about using the word, 'children'? We have already discovered that the most common word for children in the Bible is 'ben' which literally means, 'the builder of the family name.' That is a name that is worth using, isn't it? However, apart from children, sons and daughters, offspring, lads and lasses, which are all Biblical names, we find many expressions of God's heart for children. These are wonderful expressions you can use when speaking about your children. Let us discover them together, shall we?



1. GIFTS.

Read Genesis 33:5; 48:9; Joshua 24:3; Ruth 4:13b; 1 Chronicles 25:4-6; Psalm 127:3-5

Our children are gifts from the hand of the Lord. God gives them to us. We can call them our 'gifts'. What we call our children has an amazing impact upon their attitude and their behavior.

I had a lovely revelation recently from Jeremiah 1:5, "Before I formed thee in the womb I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations." As I checked the word "ordained" in my concordance I was amazed to notice that the Hebrew word, "nathan" is a primary root word meaning "to give." God planned Jeremiah's future before he was even conceived! God gave him as a "gift" to the nations.

Every child is a gift to the world! Isn't that exciting? Our children are not only a gift from God to us, but a gift to others. Each child God has given you is a gift from God to the world. Who knows which one will be another David, or Paul, or Einstein or Billy Graham! Or anointed and faithful builders, teachers, store managers or whatever! And of course, godly mothers and fathers. Praise God, the world will never be the same because of these "gifts" that you have brought into the world and will bring into the world.

Psalm 127:3 says, “Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.”

2. BLESSINGS. Deuteronomy 28:4; 33:24; 1 Chronicles 26:4-5.


I remember a friend of mine with three difficult little children. She often referred to them as her 'brats'. One day God convicted her that these children were blessings from God and that she should acknowledge them as such. She began to call them her 'blessings'. As she changed her vocabulary, her attitude to her children changed. As she changed, her children changed. Instead of being 'brats', they became the blessings she called them. These children are now fully grown today and are continuing to bring much blessing to their parents.


3. HERITAGE OF THE LORD. Psalm 127:3.


4. FRUIT OF THE WOMB. Psalm 127:3.


5. BELOVED FRUIT OF THE WOMB. Hosea 9:16.

I love the beautiful names God calls our children. Isn't this a lovely one? Not just the 'fruit of the womb', but the 'BELOVED FRUIT OF THE WOMB'! The context of this passage is that God was going to destroy the beloved fruit of their womb, because of their continual disobedience. However, it shows how God views children and also how the early Hebrews felt about their children.

6. REWARDS. Psalm 127:3.

We feel really special when we have been rewarded, do not we? Imagine how special your children will feel when you call them your 'rewards'.


7. ARROWS. Psalm 127:4.

Our task as parents is to polish, sharpen and prepare arrows to be ready to be sent forth from the bow to the hit the mark God has planned for their lives. We are 'arrow polishers.' It gives our children a sense of destiny to know they are arrows, being sharpened and prepared for God's army. This is a great name to call your children. Here are some of the kind of arrows God wants you to prepare for His purposes:

1. READY arrows.

Psalm 21:12, “Thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings…”

2. POLISHED arrows.

Isaiah 49:2, “He made me a polished arrow; in His quiver hath He hid me; And said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”
3. PIERCING arrows. Numbers 24:8

Numbers 24:8, “God shall pierce them through with His arrows.”


4. SCATTERING arrows.

2 Samuel 22:5, Psalm 18:14, “He sent out His arrows, and scattered them…”


5. STICKING FAST arrows.

Psalm 38:2, “Thine arrows stick fast in me…”


6. SHARP arrows.

Psalm 45:5; “Thine arrows are sharp…”



7. BRIGHT arrows.

Jeremiah 51:11a, “Make bright the arrows…”


8. LIGHT GIVING arrows.

Habakkuk 3:11, “At the light of thine arrows they went…”


9. GOING ABROAD arrows.

Psalm 77:17, “Thine arrows also went abroad.”


10. DESTROYING arrows.

Psalm 144:6, “Shoot out thine arrows, and destroy them.”


11. HITTING THE MARK arrows.

Jeremiah 50:9, “Their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man, none shall return in vain.”


12. SHOOTING arrows.
Psalm 64:7; 144:6, “Shoot out thine arrows, and destroy them.”


13. ON FIRE arrows.

Psalm 120:4, “Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper.”


14. DELIVERING arrows.
2 Kings 13:14-19, “The arrow of the Lord’s deliverance.”


8. OLIVE PLANTS. Psalm 128:3.


I wonder why God calls our children 'olive plants'. I think I have a few ideas:


1. Olive trees were a symbol of blessing to the Israelites. When they saw the new olive shoots growing up around their olive trees, they knew they were blessed. Deut 6:11; 8:8


2. Olive plants have to be cultivated or they will deteriorate and grow wild. So our children have to be cultivated and trained if they are going to grow up in wisdom and stature.


3. Olive trees are a symbol of beauty. Hosea 14:6. The Hebrew word 'hod' used for beauty, although sometimes used for men, is mainly associated with God. It means ‘splendor, majesty glory and honor.’ This time it is used of the olive tree. God wants our children to grow up beautiful like the olive tree, revealing to the world the glory and splendor of God.


4. Olive trees have a purpose. They are not just ornaments. Our children also have a purpose. Before the foundation of the world God chose them and prepared their destiny. It is our role as parents to help them find that destiny and prepare them to walk in it. In Bible days the olive tree was used for:


a) Building. The two cherubims within the oracle and the doors into the oracle were made of olive wood. 1 Kings 6:32-33. The purpose of our 'olive plants' is to help build the kingdom of God.


b) Light. The oil from the olive tree was used for lighting the lamps in the tabernacle. Exodus 27:20-21; Leviticus 24:1-4. Let us pray that our 'olive shoots' will grow up to be lights in the midst of the darkness of this world. There are many who are afraid to have children because they fear to bring them into this evil world. But this is the very purpose God wants us to bring forth the godly seed - to be lights in the midst of the darkness! If we hold back the godly seed, evil will increase.


c) Holy Anointing Oil. Exodus 30:22-33. Let us pray that our 'olive plants' will grow up to be anointed of God to "preach good tidings unto the meek; to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound..." Isaiah 61:1.


d) Food. The Israelites could hardly survive for food without the olive tree. Even in our countries, what would we do without olives, olive oil, and all the foods that contain this commodity? May our children "feed many" who are broken and starving and needing God. Proverbs 10:21.


5. Olive trees live forever. Well, just about. There is a saying in Israel that the "olive tree never dies." On a number of occasions we have visited the site of the Garden of Gethsemane, which is at the base of the Mount of Olives and looks up to the Golden Gate of the city of Jerusalem. This is the gate that the Bible says Jesus is going to walk through one day. In this garden, there are a number of very old, gnarled olive trees. The guides tells us that they are two to three thousand years old and they are still alive and growing. Our children are also eternal souls who will live forever. Mothering is an eternal career. It is not a waste of time. It lasts into the eons of eternity.

9. VIGOROUS GROWING PLANTS. Psalm 144:12.


10. POLISHED CORNER STONES. Psalm 144:12.


What a powerful description for our daughters. The corner stone is the most important stone in the building - it is the pivot, foundation, and plumb line from which everything is measured. We must raise up our daughters to be mothers and homemakers; for motherhood is the foundation of society. It is the greatest career they will ever embark upon. Many daughters today are prepared for other careers instead of motherhood. This brings confusion. When they get married, they face a dilemma. "What do I do with this career for which I have been trained?" They think it is more important than motherhood, and therefore do not fully embrace their mothering role. Because of this, they never really enjoy it. They have no understanding of their highest calling.

Motherhood is a dignified role. It is not to be degraded. We should raise our daughters to be who they are, daughters of the king of kings, with beauty, regality and splendor.

11. SIGNS AND WONDERS. Isaiah 8:18.

How exciting that our children are 'signs and wonders' for God!


12. LAMBS. Isaiah 40:11.

As many mothers change their vocabulary and call their little ones their 'lambs' instead of 'kids', they notice a new attitude toward their children. They experience a fresh tenderness in caring for their offspring. They become more like the Good Shepherd, who does not leave His young, but carries them in His bosom.


13. WORK OF GOD'S HANDS. Isaiah 29:23-24.

How important it is for our children to realize they are not a nuisance to our pursuits in life. They should be reminded they are the 'work of God's hands' and it is our highest privilege in life to teach and train them on God's behalf.


14. GODLY SEED. Malachi 2:15.

The greatest way we can please our Father God is to bring forth and nurture a godly seed. This is what God looks for. And he looks for godly parents to produce this godly seed. The Hebrew word that is used for the “godly” seed is ‘elohim’ which is one of the names of God. Isn’t that amazing? God wants children to come forth who are like Him. God wants children who will show who He is to the world. God wants children who are pure and righteous. God wants children who will allow Him to transform them into His image.


15. GLORY. Hosea 9:11. Children are the “glory” of a nation.


16. CROWNS. Proverbs 17:6. This is a special name for grandchildren.

Also RESTORER OF LIFE and NOURISHER OF OLD AGE. Ruth 4:15.
There are many other special names you can call your children apart from these biblical ones. Each family will have their own pet names, but let us keep to positive ones. Will you take up this challenge with me?


Let us start a revolution and eliminate the word 'kids' from our society!


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Introduction by Mrs. Bob (Terry) Leib
copied from--The Power of Motherhood; www.aboverubies.org