Growing Pains

When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.  For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face.  Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.  And now abide faith, hope, love,these three, but the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13: 11-13 NKJV

I often find myself thinking back to when, in my mind, life was easier.  When I was younger there were far too few cares to even consider.  Oh yes, we did have those things which we worried about.  Things life snow days from school, summer vacation and hockey, always hockey.  It wasn't until I was older that I realized that, despite our youth and imaturity, we still had plenty of things on our minds.  Kids are like that, they have their own way of understanding things.  Any parent will attest to this truth.  This is all a part of growing and maturing.  With only a few remarkable exceptions, very few children can understand things in adult terms.  Again, this is all a part of our growth as a person.  Parents often need to explain things differently to a child than they would one of their own peers.  This is just the way it works.  A child is not going to understand the nuances of a forty hour workweek or a home mortgage.  However, they will instantly pick up on a favorite cartoon character or the latest video game.  We adults may shrivel at having to explain something to a child in a way they can understand.  We call it condescending, immature and beneath us at times.  But wait, this is the only way a child will be able to understand whatever it is we are trying to teach them.  It is a rare grade school teacher who can not only relate to the children in their charge, but also being able to explain lessons on a level that they might retain what they are taught.  Oh, yeah, kids have short memories at times as well.  Did I mention their short attention spans?  It seems that relating to and engaging our youth is a challenging task.  However, we do well to remember that we ourselves thought as children and understood as children.

At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"  Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.  "Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  "Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.  "But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea."
Matthew 18: 1-6 NKJV

I think that the disciples of Jesus could have avoided this schooling from Jesus had they simply not approached Him with such a selfish request as "Who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"  It's easy to see just whose needs these followers of Jesus were thinking of.  Seeing this, Jesus offers up the perfect lesson.  Jesus' answer was pretty simple, "Unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven."  Any parent knows that when a child is young, they have a certain devotion to their parents.  Mom and dad are the very center of their universe.  It is also this unwavering trust which often gets our children into trouble.  However, I believe that Jesus was refering to the very trust of a child when He said that we must "Become like little children" to enter the kingdom of heaven.  Unwavering trust in God.  Unwavering trust in Christ Jesus.  How strong the faith of such a christian!  However, it is rarely this simple.  As the apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 13, when he was a child he spoke, understood and thought as a child.  This is, ofcourse, to be expected.  I have had more than a few discussions lately with my friend Dennis on this topic.  As he explains it, new christians have a different understanding of the gospel than the "Seasoned" believer.  Perhaps this is just why the truth of Christ in us is often hard to accept among christians, for their maturity to understand has not yet reached it's fullness.  Is this why young christians often need to be "Fed" the word?

As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow therby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
1 Peter 2: 2-3 NKJV

As the apostle Peter tells us in 1 Peter 2, "As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby."  I believe that there will come a point in our growth in our christian faith where our faith and trust will transcend our need for scripture.  For with a childlike unwavering trust and faith in our heavenly Father, we will come to know more deeply His Son who is within us {Galations 2:20}.  As a child grows and matures, we will have our own growing pains.

~Scott~