Thursday, May 14, 2015

Time to Grow Up

1Corinthians 13:11
 
11When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
 
What does it mean to think as a child? A child does not take into account the consequences of their actions. A child often does not consider the feelings of others. A child usually does not move with deductive reasoning. A child is often self-seeking, thinking only about what they want from moment to moment. I have been in reflective mode for the last few days because today is my 40th birthday but also because it quickly went from a completely joyous time to a bitter sweet time with just a few words of news. What I can say is it caused me to reflect greatly. The ages between 35-50 are considered the middle ages where one may encounter a "mid-life" crisis as the NKJV Study Bible talked about in an article. However, the biggest crisis, is when an adult fails to learn from mistakes. The biggest crisis is when an adult reasons as a child and does not take into account the consequences of their actions or consider the feelings of others. How so? If an adult is making the same choices that lead to mistakes made five or ten years ago, then something is missing. If an adult is in the same situation as before repeatedly, what needs to change? Yes, some cases are inevitable. But some are missing a key point. It's called putting away childish things as the Word says. It's time to grow up. Bishop T.D. Jakes did a re-enactment of baby birds having to grow up in one of his sermons. The baby birds stand with their mouths open wide waiting for the mother bird to drop the food. But eventually the mother bird disappears to make the baby children get to a place where they have to seek for themselves. When that doesn't work, she pushes them out of the nest and forces them to fly. She forces them to grow up
 
Where are you making the same choices that lead to the same mistakes? Where have you been thinking as a child? Have you considered that maybe a trial you are in is because God is ready for you to put away childish things? Are you ready to put away childish things? The Word says, "when I became a man." Are you man/woman yet? Isn't it time to grow up?