Toys

I looked through the Bible recently to see if it mentions toys anywhere. Do you know, I don't think it mentions toys even once? I'm sure children must have played in the Bible. I imagine Jesus as a boy was brilliant at hide and seek (John 1:47-49)!

http://eileenknowles.com/from-fig-tree-to-follower/

The Bible does mention about people dressing up though. But they're not playing a game. And we're to watch out for them, because they can trick us into believing things that are not God's Truth. 

Who are they?

Jesus warns us to look out for "wolves dressed in sheep's clothing". (Matthew 7: 15-16). If a real wolf dressed up as a sheep, it would probably look a little silly - and it most certainly would be up to no good, as wolves eat sheep. Not great news for the sheep, eh? 

The Bible tells us that we are God's sheep (Psalm 95: 7, John 10:14). And Jesus Himself explained that the 'wolves' He meant are really 'false prophets' - people who claim to be speaking for God, but are actually telling lies to trick the Church.

But if they look like us, and behave like us, and talk like us - how do we know who these 'false prophets' are? Jesus said we'd know them by their fruit. Good fruit - God's fruit - is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control (Galatians 5:22-23). Bad fruit is the opposite of these things. 

http://www.layman.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/wolf-sheep.jpg

Any gardener will tell you, fruit takes several months to develop and grow. It doesn't appear straight away. So Jesus is warning us to be wise, to not accept everything that people say to us, but to watch for their fruit. It's also really really important that you read your Bible for yourself, so that you know when someone is teaching you something that is wrong.

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Most of us have a favourite toy or a game that we like to play. But there are many children all over the world who make their own toys out of other people's rubbish, play football with tin cans, and cuddle dolls made out of tatty old clothes. You can read some of their stories here. 

PARENTS! There's also some really good resources for teaching about street children here. (I'm not affiliated or connected to this charity at all. I simply know a little about their work and find their site useful to raise awareness in my kids).