Growing older means becoming a baby . . .

 

The NT often speaks of Christians as God’s children. Jesus even said that becoming as a child was vital to being part of His family. A mature believer can be child-like in their faith, transparent and trusting to the point that others might think that person is simple-minded or not very intelligent. God measures our maturity differently than the world measures it! As the Bible says:

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. (1 John 3:1)

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. (John 1:12)

Those who do not know Jesus cannot understand the child-like faith of those who do. Our values are different, as are our desires and our experience of the Lord. We have . . .

 . . . put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, (1 Peter 2:1–4)

One lie of Satan is that God is not good, but His people have had a taste and know better. Because of that, we want to know more and that knowledge comes from drinking in truth about Him from His Word, wanting it like a baby wants milk. The only thing that can ruin that desire is sin, sin from yielding to Satan’s lies.

I’ve found as I grow older that becoming child-like means becoming more dependent on my heavenly Father than on myself and my own ideas and abilities. This is a humbling process that involves embracing helplessness and as Paul wrote, being able to “boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me” and “for the sake of Christ” being “content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.” A child-like Christian learns that “when I am weak, then I am strong” even though the process seems quite the opposite of growing up. (2 Corinthians 12:9–10)

As today’s devotional says, Scripture is our food, our source of spiritual growth. In it, we find the encouragement and comfort of God, direction and strength for life, yet also discover what needs to be ‘put to death’ of that old nature with its pride, self=promoting desires, and many of the qualities that the world admires. Spiritual growth turns out to be quite different than what most people would describe as maturity.

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. (Colossians 2:6–7)

Not only does God work in me to be more like Him and more like the child who relies completely on his parents in wonderful child-like trust, He also wants me to cooperate with this process, as uncomfortable and even humiliating as it can be. Rooted in Christ means no other source of what I need except what He supplies, and not being anxious or afraid that He will not take care of me. It means being taught by Him, willing to listen and obey and most of all, being willing to read and study the textbook that my Teacher has supplied. It is going back to school to learn fundamentals, to review and review, to be tested and tested. And instead of complaining about all His ‘homework’ and the steepness of the learning curve, He wants me “abounding in thanksgiving.”

That reminds me also that our Thanksgiving Day is coming up and we usually give thanks for all the good things, the comforts of life. However, the Bible says such outlandish things as:

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2–4)

In other words, He wants me to be abounding in thanksgiving for trials and faith-tests as well as the more pleasant parts of His blessings. I’m learning that the only way I can do that is by realizing, from His Word, how He uses all things for my good, to conform me into His image. All things, not just the feel-good stuff. If I stop reading and studying (or never bothered in the first place) I would be ignorant of the way He works and be like many who spend much of their time either trying to “fix” their life or complaining about how it could be better.

PRAY: Jesus, what can I say but thank You for the Bible. It is my milk, my bread, my link to Your heart so that You can reveal to me Your perfect will. No, not all of the ‘lessons’ You teach are fun and games, but they draw me to You and fill me with worship and thanksgiving. I must praise You and ask that You keep me hungry and thirsty to know You more and more.

PONDER: Consider all that the Word of God does by starting with Acts 20:32.

 

 

Our Father who art in heaven . . .

 

Some are troubled with the idea of God being their Father because their physical father was absent, unkind, or even abusive to them. My dad was none of those things. He was a hard-working farmer with common sense and much humor. However, God teaches me that even though He also is a hard worker and often has a twinkle in His eye, He is different than my dad. For instance, because doctors told him I would not live long, dad was indulgent and gave me what I wanted. God is not that kind of a father.

In Bible days, the gods people worshiped were distant, unpredictable, and immoral. Jesus’ words about God being Father were revolutionary. The Jews should have understood but their sin and apostasy separated them from any sort of intimacy with God, never mind the closeness that fatherhood suggests.

The Bible reveals that calling God Father means having faith in Jesus Christ through the powerful work of God’s Spirit and being set free from the bondage of sin:

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (Romans 8:14–17)

This privilege is not for the ‘religious’ who are working to earn salvation, not is it for all people because of creation. While the Lord is involved in our existence, calling Him Father is about a relationship in which we have become His children.

(Jesus) was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:10–13)

His children also recognize that seeing Jesus is the same as seeing their heavenly Father. When Philip asked Jesus to show him the Father, Jesus replied, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). That is, recognizing the deity of Christ is part of what it means to know the Father.

Knowing Him this way means having eternal life, but it is also about experiencing His loving care in this life. Jesus said:

And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. (John 17:3)

Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (Matthew 6:31–33)

It also means being disciplined, just as a loving father trains his child . . .

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” It is for discipline that you must endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:5–11)

Dear Jesus, in conversations with others, I often speak highly of my father, yet I know that my heavenly Father is the greatest ‘Abba’ of all. I’m so thankful that You made it possible to know Him, talk to Him, be aware of His love and care. Enable me to respond as a thankful and obedient child.

READ: Psalm 89. What did God do for David that enable him to cry out, “You are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation” (verse 26). How much of that applies to me also?