When I was a Child • Deshen Daily

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways (1 Cor. 13:11 ESV).

When i was a child showing two adults in a swing as children

The Apostle Paul gives us a remarkable revelation of our spiritual development with the words fo the verse above. He remembered his childhood and drew spiritual lessons for us. First, he acknowledges that there was a moment in his life when he was indeed a child. Every one of us will fully relate to this. The same is true spiritually. We are born into the family of God as babes.

He gives us three characteristics of children —there is a way a child talks, thinks and reasons. The same is true of babes in the faith. Spiritual childhood is independent of age, longevity in the faith or position in Church. It is based on your maturity in the things of the Spirit and will be seen in the way we talk, think or reason, as well as our attitude towards others.

The Apostle then moves on to talk about his development to become a man. The spiritual “man” in this context is the mature in the faith. The first mark of the spiritually mature is that they put away childish things. Have you ever met people who are expected to be adults by virtue of their age but still behave as children? This is more common spiritually than it is naturally. There is a time when God makes allowances because we are children, but a time comes when He expects us to be spiritual adults and will deal with us that way. This season of the Church is a time the Lord is calling us to move on to spiritual maturity.

MEDITATE

Can you think of another difference between spiritual babes and the mature ones? ( Heb. 5:13-14)

APPLY THE WORD

Where would you put yourself in the ladder of spiritual maturity? The good news is that there is hope for every one of us to grow as we feed on the Word and surrender our character to the Spirit’s leading.