1 Corinthians 3:1-4
My friends, you are acting like the people of this world. That’s why I could not speak to you as spiritual people. You are like babies as far as your faith in Christ is concerned. So I had to treat you like babies and feed you milk. You could not take solid food, and you still cannot, because you are not yet spiritual. You are jealous and argue with each other. This proves that you are not spiritual and that you are acting like the people of this world.
Some of you say that you follow me, and others claim to follow Apollos. Isn’t that how ordinary people behave?
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
This morning, our church “confirmed” several sixth graders. They vowed to love Jesus and serve Him… and the church. We (the church members) vowed to love and nurture these children, meet their needs, and serve alongside them. The “confirmands” have been spending time together for several weeks as a group – learning about God, the church, and what it means to be a Disciple of Christ. I daresay that some of these children may know more about this now than many adults! But one thing I can say for sure is that no matter how much these children know – or think they know – about God, there is so much more to learn!
More than a few of us are stuck in a rut as Christians. We’ve been content with the “Spiritual milk” of knowing the basics about Jesus and how He died on the cross for our sins. We’ve acknowledged that we want to be Christians… that yes, we love Jesus and want His forgiveness… we want to go to heaven someday. But we have not taken any further steps to affirm our faith. We’ve not given up old habits and interests and sought the will of God for our lives. We have not asked, “What do I do now? How do I serve and share this GOOD NEWS with others? Where – and how – do You want me to serve You, LORD?” Honestly, I think some of us are afraid of His answers!
In order to build our faith and grow in our knowledge of the LORD… and service to Him… we will have to grow up. We will have to stop acting like everyone else and be who God has called us to be. We will have to be willing to stop being coddled like babies and instead, be treated like mature Christians - which is a huge commitment! If God gave us everything all at once as new Christians, we couldn’t handle it. Spiritual growth and maturity is a slow process for most of us. But the results are so worth the effort.
Are you ready to park your old ways and pick up the new ones that God has laid before you? Are you hungry for His word and will… and eager to learn more each day about how God operates? Are you ready to grow in your faith and experience more of God’s blessings? Will you graduate from “milk” to “solid food”? Are you content to be “ordinary,” or are you ready to take your faith to the next level?
©2012 Debbie Robus
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