In responding to a recent blog post I accused the writer of being immature. Some may have taken my comment as being disrespectful. He is the pastor of a church and many people look up to him. My comment, even though it was harsh, was not meant to be insulting. My hope was that it would be thought provoking.
Many times in the Scriptures believers are referred to as "sons" or "children" of God. Matthew 18:3 says, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven." Now I ask, do we remain children?
1 Corinthians 3:2 says, "I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not able to receive it."
Hebrews 5:13-6:1 says, "For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. Therefore, leaving the elementary teaching about Christ, let us press on to maturity..."
2 Peter 3:17,18 says, "You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard, so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen."
It's obvious from the Scriptures above that there needs to be growth. Why?
Ephesians 4:14 says, "As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;"
2 Peter 3:17 says, "You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall away from your own steadfastness."
We need to grow so that we are not deceived. It's easy to take advantage of an infant or someone who is uneducated. When I was a child I believed in Santa Claus, the Easter bunny , and the tooth fairy. Guess what?
When I was an infant in Christ I was told a lot of things about being a Christian, the Church, and my Christian walk. Guess what? Almost thirty years later my relationship with Jesus, the Church, and others is a lot different. I'm still teachable but I'm not gullible.
So, when I accused the pastor of being immature, I was referring to his maturity as a believer. Things will look a lot different to him thirty years from now. I would encourage him and you to pursue the Scriptures, remain steadfast, and to "run with endurance the race that is set before us."(Heb.12:1) God bless y'all real good.
1 comment:
I’ve often heard it said, and this is typically used to refer to pastors or Bible teachers, that all we need to be wise and teach is the Bible. I’ve vacillated over the years with this concept, but have never been really comfortable with it. Examples of this would be the single person being a marriage counselor; the person who has never suffered, counseling someone after a great loss or great suffering; the single person telling a parent how to discipline an unruly child. Simple knowing truths from the Bible does not necessarily equip one for ministry, they will often be wrong. But having experienced and learned from what God brings into their lives they do become better able to counsel. (I’m sure there are exceptions to this and I’m sure some can use God’s word to help others, without having “walked in their shoes”, that is the power of God’s Word.) But, as time has gone by I’ve seen how silly this is, and your post on this “immature” pastor brings it back to the light. The Bible is a treasure house of wisdom, but if not spiced up by life’s experiences and the school of hard knocks, the wisdom does not mature. But when accepted into the heart and filtered through what God wants to teach us it can bloom into true maturity, vis a vis wisdom. This even seemed to have applied to Jesus,
“So even though Jesus was God's Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered.” (Hebrews 5:8)
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