BIBLE PASSAGE:
“Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people
who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly
– mere infants in Christ.”
(1 Corinthians 3:1)
MEDITATION:
Remember when you were little and couldn’t wait to grow up?
You probably asked your parents to measure your height often
to see if you had grown any since the last time they measured it.
There were probably times when your parents told you to eat
your supper, and maybe you whined, “I don’t want to”. But
when you saw that you were growing, you were glad you did eat.
Other things were important, but you really, really wanted to
grow up. Of course, growing up starts as soon as we are born.
We begin as babies and start growing until we become an
adult. It’s a natural evolution as we nourish our bodies.
But, what about when you were saved, and born a second time?
Did you have the same desire to ‘grow up’ in your spiritual life?
Or, were you content with remaining in an infant state?
If we are not fed in our created life, we will eventually die
from malnutrition. We received food in our ‘first life’, and
we also need to receive ‘spiritual food’ in our new, spiritual
life (in Christ). The more we nourish the new Spirit within
us, the more we will live our life controlled ‘by the Spirit’.
In our new spiritual life, if we do not feed our soul, then it will
fail to mature. If it doesn’t grow, then we might expect it to die
as well. Is that what we really want to happen to our new life?
Do we want our new life to amount to nothing and just fade away?
Wouldn’t we rather have a desire to receive spiritual nourishment
that will enhance our life, and help us to mature as a Christian?
A new life with zero growth doesn’t sound very exciting, does is it?
Some people have received their new life from God but have
failed to make any effort to reach spiritual maturity. They may
be consistent in church attendance but spend little time away
from church striving to become mature Christians.
Some consider Sunday to be a day of worship, but the other
days are still treated as “do as you like” days. Old attitudes,
habits, ideas, and priorities have remained the same. This is
and indication that we lack a sincere desire and commitment
to make the required changes to become more righteous (like
Jesus).
The Bible tells us a lot about the importance of becoming
righteous; here are just a few (many more could be included):
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst
for righteousness, for they will be filled.
(Matthew 5:6)
But seek first his kingdom and His righteousness,
and all these things will be given to you as well.
(Matthew 6:33)
“Then they will go away to eternal
punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
(Matthew 25:46)
This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus
Christ to all who believe. There is no difference
between Jew and Gentile,
(Romans 3:22)
Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument
of wickedness but rather offer yourselves to God as those
who have been brought from death to life; and offer every
part of yourself to Him as an instrument of righteousness.
(Romans 6:13)
Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone
as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey – whether
you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience,
which leads to righteousness?
(Romans 6:16)
You have been set free from sin and have become slaves
to righteousness. I am using an example from everyday
life because of your human limitations. Just as you used
to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing
wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness
leading to holiness.
(Romans 6:18-19)
God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that
in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
(2 Corinthians 5:21)
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life,
to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its
deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your
minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God
in true righteousness and holiness.
(Ephesians 4:22-24)
In these few scriptures, we see there is a link between obedience
and righteousness. So, if we expect to become more righteous
(spiritually mature), we need to become more obedient to ALL of
God’s commands. As Paul tells us, we are to become ‘slaves to
righteousness’. In today’s terminology we would say, “We are all in!”.
Paul refers to those who are not becoming more righteous as
‘mere infants in Christ’. Spiritual babies know very little about
the meaning of God’s Word, and how to apply it to their lives.
It can be difficult for others to see evidence of our Christian
identity when we are living a life that displays our lack of full
commitment to the Lord.
Spiritual growth is basically a two-step process.
First, we must stop being worldly. Our spiritual maturity will
always be stunted unless we break free from the attraction of
worldly things. Being swayed by the world indicates that we
are going in the opposite direction from spiritual maturity.
Secondly, we must make a conscious effort to ensure our soul is
receiving the growth hormones it needs. If we want to become
spiritual mature, but do nothing, then we can expect nothing. We
must allocate time for reading God’s Word and praying every day.
Reading God’s Word, praying, meeting with other believers to
praise and worship the Lord, and developing new attitudes and
priorities, are all ingredients for nourishing the soul. Other folks
should know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are not only
followers of Jesus, but we are also maturing as Christians.
As an adult, we wouldn’t want others to use ‘baby talk’ when
communicating with us, would we? As a believer, we should
want others to give us more mature and in-depth information
about the Lord.
Without maturing spiritually, the Christian life will become
stagnant and unexciting. There are some who are just going
through the motions of living as a believer; but they are not
enjoying their new life as fully as they could or should.
Do we really believe that’s what God wants from His children?
He didn’t give us His gift of salvation for us to sit around and
do nothing. We were saved so we can grow in our fellowship
with our Creator and become useful in His earthly ministry.
When we are saved, the world still has its chains hanging on
us and affecting our lives. However, as we mature spiritually,
we can break free from those worldly chains (with the help of
the Holy Spirit – given from God to those who belong to Him
and ask for the His Spirit to become part of their lives).
“If you then, though you are evil, know how to give
good gifts to your children, how much more will
your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those
who ask him!”
(Luke 11:13)
Food strengthens the body and spiritual maturity gives strength
to the soul. If we are not growing spiritually stronger, then we
cannot expect to break the chains of the world (which is a major
step in becoming a mature Christian).
ACTION:
Some questions to ask ourselves (Note: This is between us
and God, so we need to be brutally honest in answering them):
– How mature am I as a Christian?
– What exactly am I doing to become more mature as a believer?
– Can I name some specific things that show I am maturing?
– What worldly things can I pinpoint that were once in my life,
but are no longer part of it?
– What are some things that I still need to eliminate
from my life because they are not pleasing to God.
– Am I doing anything that I try to justify
because I know it’s not considered righteous living?
– Do I have any ‘gray areas’ in my life where I’m
struggling to decide if they are righteous or unrighteous?
(Note: If we are trying to decide if they are okay, then
more than likely God is convicting us they are acts of
unrighteousness that should be avoided – Romans 6:13)
In our ‘new life’ given to us from God, we need remember that
our actions can have an influence on others, and especially any
who do not belong to the Lord.
We should avoid the idea that if we go to enough seminars and
development programs, we will grow as a Christian. We should
first put into practice the things we have already learned. Some
of us know a lot more than we are currently doing.
Pray,
“Heavenly Father, thank You for giving me a new life – a life
that is meant to be exciting and will glorify You. Instill in me
a desire to mature spiritually in the same way I wanted to grow
up as a child. I don’t want to remain a baby in this new life You
have given me. I want to become a mature, adult Christian, so I
will be prepared to mentor other believers and point lost souls to
Jesus! Teach me to know You better, so that the spiritual life You
have given me will mature more each day. I am confident that as
I become more spiritually mature, I will know and understand Your
perfect will for me. I have seen the pitfalls of living a life ‘within
myself’, and I want to discover the joy of living a life in Christ.”
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