Time to Grow Up
Some days, don't you just want to scream at the immaturity of the people around you? Be honest now. Aren’t there a lot of times you just get frustrated because someone doesn't seem to get it, and it is just so obvious! These ignorant people might be one or two family members or a whole department at the office. And then there are the church people. Some want to focus on the music as most important and others on the small groups or youth as the most important, and it is just so obvious to the more spiritual, like you and me, what really should be the priority. And we would know because our mentor or example told us, and he or she was a real Saint so they had it right.
I think this might have been a glimpse of the kind of thinking and behaviors Paul was dealing with as he wrote his first letter to the church at Corinth. There was a good bit of conflict, and some of it originated from church members who were siding with or following certain leaders in the faith. And of course, when you think you are right, your pride gets the best of you, and you can get a little cocky about how much you know and then prove to everyone around you how smart you are. Sadly, we all have our moments.
As Paul began to address this disunity and pride in the church, he reminds his beloved friends that when he started his journey of faith with them, they were in fact not very mature spiritually, so he had to bottle feed them with milk because they really couldn't digest real food. And then comes the zinger: "And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still in the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?"
Ouch. The suggestion here is that when we get all wrapped up in our way, our group, our department, our perspective—frankly, our anything—we have moved backward from becoming Christlike and are reverting to our pre-Christian behavior. I think the apostle Paul is reminding his followers, including us, that it is not about us, or even about those who brought us to faith, or about those who preach to us on Sundays. It is about Jesus and how we are daily being formed and transformed into his image and therefore behave in a way more similar to how he loves and behaves with us.
It doesn't matter whether you are a president or a plumber, a department head or a clerk. Our job is to grow into the likeness of Jesus and then lovingly share the life of Christ with those around us, encouraging and inviting them to follow Jesus and experience the abundant life that God is offering everyone.
If we are hung up on which leader is right and our allegiance is to a person, then sadly, we are in such a weakened spiritual state that we need to be bottle fed. However, when we focus on Jesus and choose to follow him over all others, then we are ready for the spiritual food God has provided in his word and are able to be led by his Spirit to do his good and perfect will.
Father, forgive us for our moments of childishness when we look to others over, or even instead of, looking to you. Holy Spirit, transform our hearts and minds that we might grow in our faith and knowledge of Christ, of his words, and put them into action in the places where you have called us to live and serve. In Jesus name, amen.
Your Time with God’s Word
1 Corinthians 3:1-15 ESV
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