"But when I grew up..."

 

"When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things."  

1 Corinthians 13:11 (NLT)

 Recently I had the privilege of witnessing a good friend of mine complete Confirmation at her Lutheran church. She had worked for many long months doing Bible study, service, scripture memory, classes and more. When the day of her Confirmation arrived she asked me and another friend to come witness it since this other friend and I had been praying with and for her through this Confirmation process. It was neat to see her joy on this day. 

Later, since Confirmation is not part of my church tradition, she was explaining to me more of the significance of Confirmation in her church. She told me that once someone has been confirmed they are no longer considered children in the church. Instead, they are considerd fully grown members of the church and the body of Christ. She said that as such, they now were expected to serve the church as their responsibility as "adult" believers.

This caught my attention. It reminded me of 1 Cor 13:11 "When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things" (NLT) And it also reminded me of the expectation the author of Hebrews had for mature believers to be teachers and to have strong discernment. In fact, I appreciated my friend's church's view because it highlights how important spiritual growth is in the life of the church and the believer. Spiritual growth is critical and part of that growth is getting serious about your spiritual walk and growth and about seeking to be mature in all things. Things such as service, teaching, leading, guiding others in their walks with God, etc..

Hebrews 5:13-14 says,"for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil" Heb 5:13-14 (ESV). Watching this young woman and seeing her earnest desire to grow and to serve showed me that she was truly maturing as a disciple of Jesus. She was seriously owning her responsibility in the church and to lead others around her spiritually. She has truly purposed to leave childish ways behind her and to become a mature believer.

 It also challenged me to examine my own walk with God and assess how I was doing on that scale. Was I growing and serving my church and the broader Body of Christ with maturity? How about you? Looking at your life, and walk with God do you feel you are growing, maturing and becoming more "grown up" in your faith and actions? As you and I are rooted and grounded in love, I pray we all grow up into the  people that look and act more like Jesus. I pray that, " Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. ¹⁵ Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. ¹⁶ He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love." (Ephesians 4:14-16 NLT).