Articles
Our Double-Standard
While enjoying our time with the East Shelby family on October 3rd, I watched several parents immediate run to the aid of Tant since his neck had gotten wrapped up in a string. The parents were immediately concerned about him choking or getting hurt. Thanks to those parents who love my kids so much that they immediately jump in when it is needed. I love that we all take care of each other.
Yet it is ironic that we prevent young boys from wrapping things around their necks while many of us adult men tie cloth around our necks each week in the name of fashion. We will not only wrap our necks, but we will tie this long strip of cloth in a knot and pull it up tight. We can worry about a string that gets wrapped around our children’s necks while purposefully wrapping a noose around our own and think nothing of it. It is funny that our standard changes from the time we are kids to the time we are adults (Don’t get me wrong—ties are great and it is great to dress nicely out of respect for the occasion of worshipping God and respecting one another—I just find it ironic).
Unfortunately, our standard changes in other more detrimental ways. How often do we prevent our children from watching certain shows we are watching on TV because they are not “kid-friendly?” If it is merely a subject matter issue (i.e., suicide, doubt about faith, real world dangers, etc.), that is one thing. But if it is a content matter (i.e., language, violence, sex, etc.), then that is another thing altogether. Doesn’t the Bible teach us to “set no wicked thing before [our] eyes” (Ps 101.3)? While we often set evil things in front of our eyes, we work tirelessly to protect our children from the evils of the world. We understand easily that young children should not watch murder, laugh at cheating, or listen to explicit language.
Jesus told the apostles, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt 18.3). I don’t think Jesus is speaking of a child’s affinity for candy and sweets here in this passage. Rather Jesus appreciated the innocence and humility of children. He valued them and desired that they should remain innocent and pure.
Later in this same chapter, He warns, “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matt 18.6). He desired that children stay innocent. It is not a stretch to realize that if we are to be like children, and He desired their continue innocence, He also desire our continued innocence. Let’s hold ourselves to the same standard of innocence and holiness we seek for our children and lead them with an example of pursuing the true standard given by God instead of the double-standard of the world.
