Hi how are you all today? Happy Mother’s Day to all the mums, step mums, foster mums, spiritual mums, aunties and grandmas. You are all amazing and doing a great work in this space. I had a quiet Mother’s Day as one of my sons was working and the other one lives a number of hours away. But I was honoured by presents in the post, messages and phone calls. How did you honour your mum, if she is still here with us?
This week I want to look at how the stages of mothering our children is similar to our spiritual growth.
The verse I want to look at is in 1 Corinthians 3: 1-3 in the NIV Bible which states:
Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3 You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarrelling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans?
Let’s look at the stages of human growth and our correlating spiritual growth.
1. Baby- a baby needs everything given to it. They require regular feeding, milk and care.
This is the same as us when we give our lives to Jesus. God makes everything easy for us without too much effort on our part. We receive answer to prayer easily, people come around us to disciple us and answer our many questions. We are cared for in this stage.
2. Toddler- in this stage it is a teaching stage. Toddlers are learning to feed themselves, dress themselves etc. but there is still a lot of care required.
This is the same for us. We are learning to read our Bibles, pray ourselves but we still need a high level of care from others in discipling us.
3. School – in this stage, it is a start of independence stage. They are going to school by themselves and learning to be responsible for their growth.
This is the same for us. In this stage we become more responsible for our own growth. We need to be reading the Bible, praying and seeking God for the answers. We become independent of others but still remain dependent on God.
4. Adulthood- this is the stage where we are fulfilling the call of God on our lives. We live in our own family unit and may be bringing up our own children.
In God, we are mature Christians, walking out our calling and purpose, discipling others whilst still growing ourselves in the Word of God and prayer. We are building relationships with others and live in community.
My question to all of us is which stage in our Christian walk are we at? Is it time to move onto the next stage? Is it time for us to step out into all God has called us to be, without relying heavily on others for our growth? Is it time for us to grow up in Jesus?
Maturing in Christ doesn’t mean we walk alone. We always need to be in church, in community. We always need to be in the Word of God and prayer.
This world is looking for mature Christians who can help them out of their hopelessness and show them a better life. Will you and I grow up so we can be who they and God need us to be in these last days? Not being worldly but being Christlike.
The world is waiting for you.
Bless you and keep living the life God intended for you.
Karen
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