Pastor’s Corner: “It’s Time to Grow Up”
1 Corinthians 14:20 (AMP) – 20 Brothers and sisters, do not be children [immature, childlike] in your thinking; be infants in [matters of] evil [completely innocent and inexperienced], but in your minds be mature [adults].
Ally and I served in Children’s ministry for about five years before we were called into full time ministry. We have ministered to many children over the years and seen them grow up in the church. It has been a huge blessing and amazing to see the men and women of God the Lord has shaped and fashioned them to be. But one thing I have never seen is any of them remain infants very long. Every one of those children have grown up, including my own. This is because God has a specific purpose for each of them in His kingdom. For each of these treasured little ones, there will come a time when they will have to grow up – to reach maturity and put childish ways behind them. Unfortunately, we cannot be babies forever.
Some us may be physically “mature” but have never grown up in our thinking, especially when it comes to spiritual matters. This is not unique to our generation. The author of the book of Hebrews addressed the church this way: You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food (Hebrews 5:12 – NLT).
We live in time where it is not only easy but encouraged to stay immature in our thinking and ways. This has infected the church as well. Our culture often rewards whiners and punishes winners. We tax success and reward failure. We no longer keep score at many children’s sporting events because we do not want anyone to lose. The consequences of these social behaviors are Immature and selfish people who never grow up. There is no reason to grow up.
Recently, I was watching, “Hook”, the movie about Peter Pan returning to Neverland as an adult to save his children from Captain Hook. At one point, Peter Pan was trying to rediscover his happy thought (so he could fly) and said something very interesting: “I know why I grew up. I wanted to be a father.” We should want to grow up; we should want to mature in our faith! Do we understand the benefits and blessings of growing into who God has called us to be? Do we believe that God can accomplish this in our lives?
In order to grow in our faith we have to be willing to leave behind the childish ways of selfishness, pride, entitlement and be willing to pick up our cross and follow Jesus into a life of servanthood and sacrifice. This is where true joy and freedom occur. 1 Corinthians 13:11 (TLB) – 11 It’s like this: when I was a child I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child does. But when I became a man my thoughts grew far beyond those of my childhood, and now I have put away the childish things.
Growing up is hard, but staying as a child is even worse. The number one question I’m asked as a pastor is, “Why is this happening to me?” I’ll tell you why: It’s to help you grow up spiritually. Everything in life is designed to help you grow up spiritually—the good, the bad, the ugly, the stuff you bring on yourself, and the stuff that other people do to you. God is not the author of evil. But God can bring good out of bad things. Instead of asking, “God, why is this happening to me?” ask, “God, what do you want me to learn from this?” Every situation in life will either make you bitter or better. You choose how you will respond to it. The Lord is gently and firmly encouraging the church: “It’s time to grow up!”
In His Grace,
Pastor Hamilton