Posts Tagged ‘ maturation ’

The Seed Packet

July 15, 2011
By

There is exciting news in the Hiatt house. The watermelon patch has produced watermelons. No, this isn’t some sort of metaphor. Our sprawling, neighbor’s-yard-invading watermelons have given us fruit. The plant has finally started to match what is pictured on the front of the seed packet.

For those of you who are experienced gardeners, this is the normal and expected result. But for me – it’s a novel accomplishment!

Jesus is the picture on the seed packet of what God wants for humanity. He is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15). He is our pattern to imitate (1 Corinthians 1:11). When he preaches, he is bringing vivid detail to that image for you and me.

When we are born again (John 3), that growth process begins. And with every day that passes, we mature and grow and become more like the image of Jesus. Our works do not save us, but they do show us how that growth and maturation process is going (see John 15).

My question for you is this: how do you look, compared to the ideal? I know that none of us have attained perfection (Philippians 3:12) – but are we getting closer? If I’ve been a Christian for a year, is my Christianity at least at a one-year-old level? If I’ve been a Christian 30 years, am I developed like a thirty-year-old Christian ought to?

Look at the pattern. Study Jesus and know what it is He wants you to be, and you will be richly blessed!

The know-it-all?

August 28, 2010
By

Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another.  Romans 14:13

My wife recently was reading a book called The Know It All. As I understand the theme of the book it is about a fellow who read through the Encyclopedia Britannica. For most this is boring reading and most of us would only do it in research for some school project.

This man was a “Know it all” on almost any subject. I have heard people referred to as “having just enough knowledge to be dangerous”. Maybe this is what Paul is referencing in Romans 14. There have always been people who make up their minds what others should do and how they should do it and attempt to get them to get on with it.

The Message is pretty forceful when this verse is translated, “Forget about deciding what’s right for each other”. I have the annoying habit of deciding what is right for others and attempting to get them to fall in line. It may even be what is right but God never commissioned me to decide for others. If a person wanted to celebrate a certain day, that’s between him and God. We are not to make these judgments for others. Back off brother James! Verse 6 says, “He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.”

Trusting others to make good decision about questionable things is part of maturing in Christ. Some have never reached this maturity but need to move off the plateau on which they have parked. God is the judge and we are never to broach His domain. Let God be the one who leads and guides. “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”

Upcoming Events

Our Library