Time to grow up

The graduation season is upon us, and you can bet that every mom who has a son or daughter graduating this year has spent hours pouring through old photographs of when her baby was a baby. We get awfully sentimental at times like this and think that we miss the days when they were little. But honestly, would you really want to go back to those days?

I wouldn’t.

Oh, there’s no doubt I had the cutest babies in the world, and there are definitely aspects I miss about their infancies and childhoods, but little ones are a LOT of work. There’s so much they can’t do for themselves. Going anywhere with a small child is a major ordeal, and you need SO much patience while they’re learning to talk, to dress themselves, to feed themselves, etc.

Now that my children are in their teens and twenties, I enjoy them immensely. Instead of having to do everything for them, they can actually help me do things. They can express their needs and desires instead of grunting, whining, or throwing themselves into a fit on the floor. We can have adult-sized conversations – that’s my favorite!

Babies are cute, but it’s good that they grow up.

Some Christians never advance beyond childhood. They’ve made a decision for Christ, they’re going to heaven, but they refuse to grow up. They become the toddler who must be attended to and carried everywhere you go. They can’t have an “adult” conversation about the Lord, because there’s just so much they don’t know. When they were first born again, they were cute in their innocence, but as the years go by and there’s no growth, the charm wears off.

I Peter 2:2 says, “Like newborn babies, thirst for the pure milk of the word so that by it you may grow in your salvation.” Then in 2 Peter 3:18 we have very clear instruction of what God expects from His children, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

Both these passages command growth.

Do you feel like you already know everything there is to know about God? I think I could study every day for the rest of my life, live to be 100, and only touch the surface of the mysteries God will reveal.

Do you feel comfortable that you have become the person God intends for you to be? Growth is a lifetime process. When we stop growing, we start deteriorating – going backward in our growth.

The next few weeks of The Purpose Driven Life Daily Devotional will be devoted to spiritual growth. I hope you’ll enjoy Pastor Warren’s tips for growing in your faith.

Voice of Our Father

Have you ever thought about your response to a loved one's voice? Doesn't that voice give you a sense of warmth and calm? When you answer your phone, don't you smile with gladness to hear that voice on the other end? We respond emotionally and even physically to the voice of one we trust and love. My husband's voice may not sound lovely to anyone else, but because he's mine, his voice is sweet to me.

We can know our Heavenly Father's voice in this way when we have established the level of intimacy we have with those special people in our lives whose voices we love. When we fully realize "I am my Beloved's, and He is mine" (Song of Songs 6:3), committing ourselves wholeheartedly to knowing Him by spending precious, quality time with Him each day, hearing Him speak to us will not be unusual. Habakkuk 2:18 says, "What's the use of an idol. . . . a god that can't even talk!" Isn't it wonderful and exciting that our God speaks to us? He says, "My sheep listen to my voice" (John 10:27). I Chronicles 28:9b says, "If you seek Him, He will be found by you." When we seek Him and find Him, will He be silent, refusing to communicate with us? Of course not! When God sent Jesus to us, the veil that separated us from experiencing His presence was torn in two. God wants to communicate with us! "Remain in me, and I will remain in you" (John 15:4). Think of it: Here we are—Christ in us—and He is saying . . . NOTHING? No! He has much to share with His children. Be encouraged. The God who loves you wants to instruct you, encourage you, caution you, guide you, and tell you of His love.

Imagine the day when God's voice is no less than that of our most trusted, beloved, confidante. Picture how it will be when your relationship with Him is that close, that intimate. This intimacy will be attained by our devotion to spending time in His Word and in deep, meaningful prayer. As we learn the benefits of studying God's Word, and as we continue to grow in our prayer lives, let's often encourage one another. Ephesians 1:17; I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better.