Being Baby or Moving On?
We
are growing in the Lord. Many of us should be past milk, past bottles, past
pacifiers. I have a three-year-old son who should be past those things. But
from time to time, he asks for a bottle of milk; he finds a pacifier and sucks
on it. It's comfort. It's what he had known to comfort him until he became a
big boy. He has to find the big-boy comforts now. It's like Israel wanting to
go back to Egypt because it was familiar and promised momentary satisfaction
and physical comforts that paled in comparison to the promised comforts God was
leading them toward. My son doesn't want the pacifier when I remind him that he
is a big boy, that he is no longer a baby. So much is about mentality. The
stresses and trials of life tempt us to reach for that which is easy comfort.
But those comforts take us back to Egypt. Those comforts bring us back to
infancy. Both the trials and the fleshly comforts are like thorns that threaten
to choke our faith in God--unless who we are, and in whom we're rooted chokes
them first. Psalm 1:1-3: "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel
of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of
scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates
day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields
its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he
prospers."
Mark
4:7-8: "Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked
it, and it yielded no grain. And other seeds fell into good soil and produced
grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a
hundredfold."
Our
gracious Father knows our frame. He remembers that we are dust. (Psalm 103:14)
He will be gentle with us if we are listening to His reminders: "You are
my Bride now, not the groveling slave of Satan. You are royalty, not the
no-good trash that the devil wants you to think you are. You are favored by me,
the almighty, omnipotent God--not by presidents, not by kings, not even by
company CEOs. No, you are favored by me, the King of kings and Lord of lords. I
own the cattle on a thousand hills. I set up kings and depose them. I give CEOs
power and take them away. And I have called you to be my Bride. Remember who
you are." Why are we given such a marvelous place in the Kingdom of
Heaven? Because the Father gave us to His Son, and the Son sealed the betrothal
by paying the bride price with His own blood. And then He stamped His seal on
us by the Holy Spirit. It's legal. It's real. It's done. So next time you want
comfort, go tell your Bridegroom. He will faithfully wrap His arms around you
and give you the kind of comfort that no pacifier could ever give. What are
your pacifiers? Find them and take them to the Bridegroom so he can get rid of
them forever. Hebrews 5:12-14: "For though by this time you ought to
be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the
oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk
is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food
is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by
constant practice to distinguish good from evil." 1 Corinthians
3:1-3: "But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as
people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food,
for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are
still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you
not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?" Psalm 55:22:
"Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never
permit the righteous to be moved."
There
is one other object lesson the Lord has been showing me this week. My son has
been making a habit of falling down and skinning his knees. Am I angry with him
when he does that? Do I tell him to stop running or walking? Certainly not! I
bandage his knees and send him back out to play. I encourage him to keep
walking and running, while warning him to be careful. The Lord has reminded me
that He treats His children in the same manner. "I will be to him a
father, and he shall be to me a son. I will not take my steadfast love from
him, as I took it from him who was before you, but I will confirm him in my
house and in my kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established
forever" (1 Chronicles 17:13-14). "I will be to him a father, and he
shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the
rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not
depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And
your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne
shall be established forever" (2 Samuel 7:14-16). "Did God's people
stumble and fall beyond recovery? Of course not!" (Romans 11:11).
2
Peter 3:18: "But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity.
Amen."
Matthew
7:11: "If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your
children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to
those who ask him!"
Yes my sister in Christ, your reminding us of God's truth and good WAYS...
ReplyDeleteWe are to be sober and pray each day for leading, and to hear only from him our father.
And those like me who want to hear more clearly, pray for his grace to be allowed too...more and more...Amen