Don’t Be A Spiritual Baby
Read the Text: 1 Corinthians 3
Memorize the Text:
Don't you yourselves know that you are God's temple and that the Spirit of God lives in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is holy, and that is what you are.
(1 Corinthians 3:16-17, CSB)
Consider the Text: 1 Corinthians 3
A new baby brings excitement and changing dynamics to every home. Part of the excitement exists from the hopes and dreams parents have concerning that child's future. Each parent expects their child to grow and mature physically, emotionally, and educationally. They do not want to raise a constant infant that never develops. The same reality exists in one's spiritual life. When one enters a spiritual relationship with Christ, they become an infant spiritually and need to mature and grow. In 1 Corinthians 3, the apostle Paul warned of a spiritual life where such growth does not occur and called believers to set a course toward spiritual maturity.
Paul warned the church in Corinth of the reality of SHUNNED GROWTH. Shunned growth means the believer enters a relationship with the Lord but shuns the expectation and call to mature in the faith. So often, such a believer desires to benefits of a relationship with Jesus, but they refuse to pay the price to grow up in their spiritual life. Instead, they seek an easy belief system of spiritual milk that does not challenge them. They want the soothing nature of milk but refuse to mature and struggle with the deeper truths of faith. Thus, they reject the call to growth by living in a state of shunned growth.
The apostle alerted the believers in Corinth of the reality of STUNTED GROWTH. Unlike shunned growth, stunted growth exhibits a partial state of spiritual growth. The believer moved past the stage of milk alone and now digests spiritual soft food. The individual now faces the transition of feasting on solid spiritual food. This moment of transition causes hesitation in the growth process because the next step seems further than the believer wants to go. Thus, instead of transitioning to a solid spiritual diet, the individuals stop their growth and become stunted. Though this state looks more mature than the shunned growth, this state still leaves believers short of where God has called them in their spiritual journey.
The apostle Paul challenged Christians in Corinth to the reality of SPIRITUAL GROWTH. Spiritual growth is a constant activity that leads the believer into a deeper relationship with the Lord. The growth process exists as a continuous movement. This believer diets on the solid food of truth and engages in the training that develops the ability to digest the truth and play it into use in one's life. The mature belief looks and acts more like Jesus because they are seeking the deep things of truth that become revealed by the Lord. Thus, they reach a level of growth that mirrors truth and exists in deep intimacy with the Lord.
Every believer enters a relationship with Jesus as an infant spiritually. At the same time, every Christian must guard against the threat of shunned or stunted spiritual growth. A deep desire for spiritual maturity should press believers toward growing in Christ. When you think about your spiritual walk with the Lord, would the apostle Paul label your spiritual life as one displaying shunned growth, stunted growth, or spiritual growth?
This blog is part of the Coffee and Quiet Time with Jesus Devotional Series found at equippingfaith.com. Join the journey of reading through the New Testament this year. More information can be found at equippingfaith.com.
