“That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. 16. But speaking the truth in love may grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ.”
At some point in life one has to grow up. The same is true of Christians: At some point we have to grow up in the faith. Paul wrote this about growing up in 1 Corinthians 13:11: “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man (adult), I put away childish things.” He wrote this in the great “love chapter”of the Bible. He grew up when loving God and others became one of his priorities in life. I don’t think that we can claim growth until we learn the importance of love in our lives. We are given no choice in the New Testament but to love people. This does not mean that we will love the way all people behave, nor, for that matter does it mean that we will always love the way we behave. Though it is scoffed at today, I think that “love the sinner and hate the sin” is a good philosophy to adopt in a grown up Christian’s life. This does not mean that we can demean and belittle people, but it does mean that we that we can lovingly disagree with people about various things. Paul also wrote to the Ephesians about growing up. He wrote this in the context of using our God-given gifts in growing up in Christ. When we grow up as Christians we become settled in our Christian beliefs and are not easily fooled by what Paul described in another place as “wolves.” There are always those people out there who try to push off almost anything as Christian belief. When we mature in Christ, we realize that anything that detracts from the centrality of Christ in our lives will be detrimental to our faith. We should grow up to the point that we can be no more, “tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine.” At some point, we just need to wise up. Here comes that word “love”again. Paul doesn’t leave room for us to be insulting and self-righteous with people, because he points out that we should “speak the truth in love.” This means that when we grow up in Christ we become more Christ like in our approach to people. This is one reason that I have stopped arguing with people about my faith (and my politics). When we start to argue, love goes out the window and being like Christ takes a back seat to proving our point. Obviously, there are times when I would really like to argue, but I know that it always ends disastrously. I think that quitting arguing has been part of my growing up in Christ, and it has come late in my Christian life. Love is important in Christian growth, but it is not the only element involved. Of course you know that prayer and Bible reading have a part in Christian growth. There is no way that one can grow up in Christ without prayer and Bible reading. These are two disciplines practiced by every great Christian who has lived over the last two-thousand years. They disagreed about a lot of things, but they certainly agreed on this. I think that another thing that ties into our Christian growth and is an outgrowth of our prayer, Bible reading and love, is accepting all of the circumstances of life in a Christian spirit. I must confess that I have been put to the test over the last year and a half because of cancer and surgery, but I think that I grew up in the midst of it. I have heard it said that “time and circumstance happen to all people.” This is true, and we have to learn to “roll with the punches.” This is what Paul meant when he wrote that he had learned to be content in all things –whether good or bad. Like growing into adults in life, it is the same in our Christian lives. We have a lot of stops and starts, ups and downs, and we have to cope with them in faith. It is my prayer that you have learned that and that I have learned it well too. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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