CHILDISH THINGS

There is an old saying about as an adult one puts away childish things. It has several different possible meanings, but perhaps as a follower of Christ we know sometimes that it might be tough to put away all the "things" from our childhood, when it means or includes unhappy memories.

I think the broader idea has to do with "growing up." Essentially, it in part means being willing to give up playing with the toys of youth in favor of the tools of adulthood. Regardless of our real age, sometimes truly abandoning those emotional "toys" of me first, my way or no way are hard to abandon. Some never do.

This isn't about salvation, but it is about the intimacy one can have with our lord and savior. For spiritual adulthood is to focus with receptive and mature ideas upon what God says is important. It is to set aside the childish things of only seeing life as I relates to the here and now and not eternity.

Ironically, Jesus once mentioned how we needed "childlike" faith. This meant the kind of faith that is so trusting and completely without doubts as we often know as a child.

I do wonder how many times in the process of growing up one has trouble separating out the two? We abandon that part of thinking, which is truly relevant to faith along with our other toys.

So we enter the faith as an adult, so proud of our maturity, but never appreciating how spiritually we haven't actually matured at all. Wrinkles may mask our faces, but inside in our souls we are in reality still children.

You could hardly expect to have too many truly embrace that reality though. Pride would not grant them the freedom to admit they are still children before the lord in our spiritual lives.

What is amazing to me at times are those who think they are mature. But in reality, they have never truly grown up.

Oh they can recite numerous verses, tell you all kinds of relevant truths they can parrot from their preachers, but inside the deep revelations and insights still haven't developed. So they are only mature in their minds, but think they are truly mature saints just the same.

Whether we grow up in the Lord doesn't affect our salvation naturally. But it does impact the quality of spiritual life on our peace in the Lord along the way.

And also there is the reality that no matter how much we "age" in terms of spirituality, we shall never be as adult as when we stand in the presence of the Lord. So until then we can celebrate what lessons we have learned and the times when we did understand the message our soul can embrace in some degree of spiritual maturity.