“Act your age!”
How often did we hear that as kids? (maybe we still hear it at times).
Often I feel like I’m hearing that from God… “Son, grow up! You’re not living the way you should! Act your own age!” Well, there is some truth to that but I have recently come to an awareness that a lot of the time it’s not God but me placing expectations upon myself that, in reality, God doesn’t require of me.
As Christians, we are commanded in Scripture to “grow up.” 1 Peter 2:2 tells us, “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation” (italics added).
It’s vital that growth is experienced because, as the writer of Hebrews points out, we are going to miss out on deeper opportunities God has called us to in His ministry as well as a more satisfying relationship with Him (Hebrews 5:11-6:20). There is such an unimaginably good and satisfying life offered to the believer that is selfishly forfeited when we allow ourselves to remain in a superficial state of faith. Maturity doesn’t just make righteousness second nature, but it leads us to the kind of satisfyingly perfect life that we were designed and destined to live.
As I’ve walked with Jesus and matured in the faith as much as I have thus far, and as Peter puts it, “tasted that the Lord is good” (1 Peter 2:3), I’ve longed for more of that goodness that I might please my Father in heaven and experience more satisfaction today than I did yesterday.
But lately, I have become increasingly frustrated with my shortcomings. I know, or I think I know, what God wants of me but somehow I still fail to do as He commands. I fail to “seek the things that are above” (Colossians 3:1). I fail to “tell of all his wondrous works” (Psalm 105:2). In many areas of my life, I feel I fail to “do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:33).
Then I find myself bowing my head in my prayers not out of reverence, but out of shame. Like children coming to their parents to tell them that they just broke a lamp playing ball in the house even though the children knew they were told not to because something like that would happen. But is a good parent mad at that child? Is the child’s shame well founded?
No, the good parent is going to first make sure that the child knows that they are not bad just because they did something bad. Then the good parent is going to leverage the mistake of the child to explain why it was a mistake and teach the child how to do the right thing next time. Then the parent and the child will go and clean up the shards of glass and fix the lamp together.
Last week, I read Charity’s post (the “C” of “KC and Co.”) and I felt freed by this question: “Am I trying to psychoanalyze Him when all He wants is for me to know Him as He fully knows me?”
That question caused me to understand something about our Good Father. Just as a good father or mother is not going to be upset with a five year old for not acting like a 15 year old, or a 15 year old for not acting like a 30 year old, the Heavenly Father is not going to be upset with me for not living like a spiritual age that I haven’t grown up to yet!
A child can’t live like a teenager, nor a teenager like an adult. They just aren’t there yet. In the same way, a believer who has only been devoted to spiritual growth for a year is not going to be able to think and live like a believer who has been devoted to spiritual growth for 5, 10 or 30 years. [Special emphasis toward “devoted to spiritual growth” because as Hebrews 5 tells us, there are believers who should be living like the mature but are still spiritual infants].
Furthermore, the process of sanctification—being made holy and spiritually mature—is a process enacted by the Holy Spirit as we intentionally seek that from Him. It’s something God does in us and not we ourselves. Therefore, God is not mad about the pace of His own process! God is working all things out in His timing. This includes His work of making us like Christ. He is perfect in pace and patience.
Why should I be upset or dissatisfied that I may not be at a spiritual “age” that the Holy Spirit hasn’t grown me up to yet?
If we are intentionally seeking that goal of spiritual maturity and Christ-likeness, all we can do is “live up to what we have already attained” (Philippains 3:16). I live like the spiritual age I am today.
Now this does not mean that I just lay back and do nothing to become more mature just because I’m not the empowerment behind the process. The child does wise to learn from their mistake and do different next time. The child also does wise to begin taking responsibility for what they can do (Living up to what we have already attained) and also to begin listening to the other instructions which the good parent lovingly provided.
The wisdom here is all gleaned from the passage in Philippians which has sort of been my 2020 guide for where I currently am in my spiritual journey. And just this week, I’ve been hearing God remind me that what Jesus accomplished in His life, death and resurrection wasn’t just for my sins, but for my sanctification. To make being like Him, as we were are originally created to be, a possibility.
In Philippians 3, Paul wrote about what he desired more than anything he could gain or that life could give him. He wanted Christ and to be made like Christ. Then in Philippians 3:12-14 he wrote:
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus (NIV).
This past week I delivered a message in which I spoke about founding our lives upon the Truth which Scripture alone reveals versus our opinions which are formulated apart from Scripture. Because the Bible reveals why we exist and how God has designed and destined us to live. It also reveals how we have no power, apart from God, to live in such ways. It is Him who made it possible and He does not desire to keep us from that.
I hope we all, as believers in the person and the work of Jesus Christ, take great courage and experience tremendous peace knowing that we can “continue to work out [our] salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in [us] to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” (Philippians 2:12-13 NIV, italics added).
Author Spotlight:
Alex
Hey, everybody! My name is Alex! I have a growing passion for the Scriptures, being changed by them as they fill my mind and heart. Through teaching and preaching, I desire to help other believers know the abounding richness of the Scriptures for themselves. Read more of my writing here.
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