For thought and meditation Fri Mar 8 2024

[Markopolo]

Fickle Christians
by Greg Laurie on Mar 8, 2024

Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth.
—Ephesians 4:14

It’s cute for babies to be babies. There is nothing like them, especially when they’re your own. But they can’t stay babies forever. They have to grow up.

The same is true when it comes to our spiritual growth. We start out as spiritual babies, but then we must grow up spiritually.

The apostle Paul addressed this in Ephesians 4, where he wrote, “Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth” (verse 14 NLT).

Peter used a similar comparison, saying, “Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation” (1 Peter 2:2 NLT).

Children can be fickle. It’s interesting how they can go from laughing to crying to laughing again in a millisecond. They can be totally thrilled. Then they’re upset. And then they’re happy again.

New believers are often emotionally oriented, too. They can have very high highs and very low lows. That is fine when you’re learning to walk by faith rather than living off your emotions.

However, it’s sad when someone who has been a Christian for a number of years is still fickle spiritually. They have no clear viewpoint or direction in life, and they don’t really know what they believe. They think something is true simply because they have experienced it.

That is understandable when you’re new in the faith. But it’s tragic when you are not.

The writer of Hebrews pointed out, “You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food. For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right” (5:12–13 NLT).

When I was a new Christian, I wanted to find a shortcut to spiritual maturity. I didn’t want to wait fifteen or twenty years to learn and grow. I was always looking for the angle, the experience that would bring me instant spiritual maturity.

We have to be careful because we can be looking for a new experience, truth, or revelation and get ourselves into a lot of trouble. As we grow older and mature, we discover that just because something is new doesn’t mean that it’s better. We need to apply judgment and recognize that the Bible is the arbiter of truth.

Some of us have known the Lord for years, but we’re still like babies spiritually. We still need to be spoon-fed. We’re still looking for something new. It’s time to be mature and have a faith that sustains us instead of living on fickle emotions that come and go.

We need to be mature so we can apply proper understanding. It’s time to grow up.

Have a great day!

[Wayne Smith]

If you can find it there is a very good, old work that addresses just this point. St. John of the Cross, Doctor of the Church (yes, they had Doctorates back then), was a supervising monk. He wrote The Dark Night Of the Soul to teach other monks who were supervising the young monks. This treatise covers just that point in the young emotional monk's life when he fears that God has left him high and dry, has abandoned him. This is when they learn to live by faith rather than by feeling. This is the dark night of the soul - the fear of abandonment.

Years ago I downloaded it from the internet - on a much earlier computer. I still have a paper copy but have no idea where the electronic copy went.

[USMC87]

Amen, it takes studying to grow and studying takes time that people don't want to give in service to God.