Immature Brats?

-

“As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.” –Ephesians 4:16-18 NASB (Emphasis added).

     These scriptures remind me of how I have failed at this. Paul uses ‘children’ to indicate the immaturity of a small kid. Anyone who has been around small kids knows what he’s talking about—the back-talking, the temper tantrums, and the promise of being good, of listening only to throw that out the window as soon as a new toy catches their eye in the store. For some kids, it is candy, or not wanting to leave a friend’s home. Whatever it is for the child, there is no doubt it is not unique to one kid.

     Yet, as believers, isn’t that how we have sometimes acted? There are those of us who have misled and lied to make ourselves look better, even at the expense of others. Do not immature children point their fingers at others in the same way so that they may receive praise or even to avoid punishment? There are those who have twisted Scripture to support their spin on doctrine, using the Bible to mislead while cherry-picking verses to make their arguments seem legit; and unfortunately, sometimes they are believers. Some of us even twist the ‘speak the truth in love’ so that we can speak whatever awful thing we want because it is the truth and the only love we are showing is self-love or love of drama.

     If we examine this Scripture, it is not giving us a Christ-stamped license to be a busy-body, truth-as-a-weapon-of-mass-destruction jerk. That is not love. That is immaturity. What we are supposed to be doing is growing up and being mature in Christ. We are supposed to be building one another up, not tearing one another down. The mature of spirit begin to display more and more behaviors like Christ, not treat His sacrifice as a get out of Hell free card while continuing to live like a self-centered brat.

     I don’t know about you, but I have struggled with this in the past. I have been the immature believer, as well as the immature person who feels slighted and wants the satisfaction of getting in my digs. However, that is not who we are called to be as we grow up and start acting the way that Christ and our Heavenly Father expects us to act. We are supposed to be causing growth, not withering and decay.

     What about you? In what way are your actions and words indicating immaturity, be it jealousy, envy and bitterness? How are you feeding the spirit of childishness? Do you tear other’s down, spewing venom while sharing truth that is destructive, not done in love and not done in the corrective manner that the Bible tells us we should do? Examine your heart and ask God for forgiveness and maturity of spirit.

Until Next Time,
God Bless

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Post-Prodigal

-
          One of my biggest struggles as a believer in Christ is who I have been, versus who Christ says I am as a believer in Him. I admit, I have allowed the self-critical voice in my head, or what others say and think marginalize the greatness of Who He Is in me and what He can do in me. In my past’s personal walk, I have had the tendency to be more of a Prodigal Son, than a steadfast believer. How many of us have had that: “Give me salvation, Father. All right, now, I got this…” sort of mentality?               I wonder, if we are being transparent with ourselves, how many of us have allowed our missteps, whatever it is—that abortion, that DUI, that undeleted browser history, that drug abuse or that affair—to label and imprison us? How many of us have succumbed to the smug, self-satisfied taunts of “She will never change! You know she aborted…” or “He is still just an addict. Give him enough rope, he’ll hang himself…” Or, “Once a cheater, always a cheater.” Have you allowe
Read more

Rotten Words=Foul Mouths

-
            “Let no unwholesome (literally: rotten ) word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.”—Ephesians 4:29 NASB      Summer is hectic. Added to that, having a four-year-old that struggles with authority and is awaiting pediatrician referred testing for ADD and ODD, simple outings can turn into wars. As a parent, this can be very trying. I am not a doctor; I am not qualified to diagnose my son. However, I am intelligent enough to know that he has behavioral issues that have at times caused me to give pause and wonder if he is on the spectrum or possibly does have ADD or ODD. We’ll only know for sure when the testing ensues, and he is diagnosed by a licensed psychiatrist.      Yet, it makes for difficult times. For example, yesterday I went to get my car’s oil changed and tires rotated. My kid was good for a while but then he started to get bored, wouldn
Read more

Be of Kind-Mind!

-
“Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation.” Romans 12:16 NASB      It’s easy to get caught up in how the world operates. Especially now with the way social media lets everyone have a voice. I am for having a voice. However, a lot of times, what we see is not helpful or even cordial toward one another. A positive post that is uplifting and edifying can be overlooked while a post that smears someone has a million views and thousands of hateful comments. As believers, we are called to be set apart from that and to be different with one another.      One thing God has made clear to me through the course of my life is everything except redemption and all that comes with receiving God’s gift of salvation is fleeting. If we are blessed to see old age, the super-smart must contend with losing memories just as those whom the culture labels as intellectually lacking. The well-to-do person who l
Read more