Peripatetics: The Art of Walking
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
The Growth Curve
My spiritual growth in Christ was painfully slow...most of the ground we've covered before: I grew up in a church where spiritual growth meant going to church and taking part in the liturgy, which was pretty formal. Evidence of growth meant you became an altar boy and took the confirmation class.
Not long after that I was in exile for three years from just about anything spiritual, so that was a total void in the growth.
When I started going to church again I was in a Bible study of guys who were pretty much raised in the church and new all the stories and heard lots of sermons & Sunday School lessons. They were sharp and accepted me immediately so that wasn't the problem, it was really more that I was trying to imitate them rather than grow in Christ. And, because I was looking like them and talking like them and doing what they did (or not doing what they didn't do) the leaders of my youth ministry had no cause to be alarmed or concerned. I imagine they were very pleased with my "growth."
But then came university. I was being discipled by a guy and sharpened by some friends who each embodied this, from Ephesians 4: 14-16 (from The Message),
"No prolonged infancies among us, please. We'll not tolerate babes in the woods, small children who are an easy mark for impostors. God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love--like Christ in everything. We'll take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. He keeps us in step with each other. His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love."
Remember this passage is in the context of the nature of being part of the spiritually gifted community. So, Paul is telling us that another part of the giftedness is that spiritual growth should be "the norm" and not the exception.
There's a parallel from real life, too. When a baby is born in a hospital, there's usually a couple of medical professionals on hand who immediately spring into action. The doctor cuts the cord and begins to take care of the new mom. The nurses then take the baby and check the vital health statistics and give the baby it's first bath. Then they hand the baby back to the proud parents, who take it and show the family and then feed him/her and rock him/her and eventually, they take the baby home.
What doesn't happen is that those health professionals clap and applaud the birth and then leave the room, followed by the parents leaving the baby on a little bed and walking out.
Not at all...in fact, there'd probably be criminal charges forthcoming if anyone did that. Rather, everyone simply assumes the baby is going to grow. The health professionals ensure that the baby is healthy and able to deal with what the world can throw at him/her before they leave, and before they leave they turn the child over to parents, who, ideally, will make sure the baby gets fed and bathed and played with and all that.
Everybody assumes the baby will grow.
Unfortunately, we sometimes fail to realize this in our churches. That the "grown-ups" (or "growing-ups" might be a better term) will treat the younger believers in a similar fashion. That because we have a spiritual gift, we should use it to help those "babies" in our midst have the best chance to get fed, bathed and played with and all that.
Or, in the words of The Message, "His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love."
So, you see, us "growing-ups" have the charge to ensure the babies are breathing the breath from God and getting nourishment, so they can become growing-ups, too...who will in turn repeat the process, thereby keeping the Kingdom from becoming a "mile wide and an inch deep." Or, they won't leave the babies to fend for themelves, either.
For today, in the comments, do you see the Church (not just our church, but rather the WHOLE CHRISTIAN CHURCH) fulfilling this obligation? If so, how has that encouraged you? If not, what should it be doing to be more effective?
Brent 4:28 AM
Comments:
I dont think we as the Church do a very good job of helping the weaker in the faith grow. I think we all need to encourage each other, and do everything in our ability to lift them up and help them grow.-RM (brent i was smashed and removed like Edom in the game of foosball tonight, and i wanted to tell you ive been HUMBLED in that game. i can honestly say i have no foosball pride left)
Post a Comment
