Grow up

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Romans 14:1-23


TO CHEW ON:"Therefore let us not judge one another any more but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in a brother's way .... Therefore do not let your good be spoken of as evil .... Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another." Romans 14:13, 16, 19.


If you have ever parented an infant, you have witnessed complete and total self-absorption. A baby cares only about itself, its hunger, its comfort, and its need to sleep or not. It does not ask you whether this is a convenient time for it to nurse, or go on a crying jag, or mess its diaper.

One of our jobs as parents is to channel that self-absorption into an awareness of others and their needs. We label an adult who is stuck in a childish, self-absorbed state immature.

Here Paul talks to the family of God in Rome about some of these maturity issues. Three "therefore"s signal the conclusions to three mini-arguments. They help us identify areas in ourselves that might be challenged by self-absorption.

1. "Therefore let us not judge..."
Paul ends a whole section with that simple conclusion (Romans 14:1-13). He does give an alternate response to cultivate: "rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in a brother's way." Another way we could express this is, Don't judge the actions of others; rather judge yourself and rein in actions that might cause someone to trip-up.

2. "Therefore do not let your good be spoken of as evil."
Paul precedes this with the opinion/belief that nothing is intrinsically unclean. He would probably be referring to the unclean foods and actions defined in the Old Testament law. What makes transgressing these old prohibitions sin, then, is whether they violate one's conscience. Paul pleads with his readers to take into account the tender conscience of fellow Christians before doing things they know others would find a problem.

3. "Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another."
Why? Because this attitude offends no one. It pleases God and people (Romans 14:18). Paul here advises a change of perspective. He says, in effect, Don't focus on living as close as you can to the boundary of unbridled liberty. Rather focus on maintaining peace with your brother/sister. Look for ways you can edify or build up (not stretch, shock, or offend) your fellow Christian.

Are we mature enough to be other-centered in these ways?

PRAYER: Dear God, please help me to leave judging to You. May I be sensitive to the consciences of others. On the flip side of this coin, may I not be easily offended or tripped up by the liberties others take. Amen.

MORE: On maturity

"How often I have found that we grow to maturity not by doing what we like, but by doing what we should. How true it is that not every 'should' is a compulsion, and not every 'like' is a high morality and true freedom" - Karl Rahner .

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Do you know what is in your heart?

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Deuteronomy 8:1-10

TO CHEW ON: "And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not." Deuteronomy 8:2


If you want to discover your grumpiness, irritability, and general unpleasantness potential, put yourself under stress. For me, even something as ordinary as camping in the rain with little kids was enough to expose impatience and short-temper just under the thin veneer of pleasantness and longsuffering.

I often ask myself, when I watch people on the news as they react to natural disasters—how would I do in that situation? It's the same with stories of the Exodus in the Bible. Though it's easy to be condemning of the Israelites as they make their grumbling way through the desert, I wonder, would I have been any different?

In our reading today, Moses, in a farewell message to the Israelites, explains the why behind God's dealings with them. Their hardship, hunger, and thirst show them how helpless they are on their own and how much they need God. The way their clothes don't wear out and their feet don't swell show them they can trust God for the most practical, down-to-earth details. Their testing is never arbitrary or random but for a purpose, to show them how much they need God and to strengthen character in them. It is to build a people who, even when the stress is off, will remember the origins of their supply and good fortune.

We may be dismayed at how difficulties show us up as selfish, fearful, impatient etc. At such times it's easy to get discouraged with our many immaturities. But we mustn't stay down on ourselves too long. For such self-revelations are also positive:

• They give us glimpses of who we really are.

• They keep us from being proud and judgmental of others.

• They throw us on God. We can ask Him to help us understand the roots of our reactions.  We can go to Him for daily spiritual nourishment, just like the Israelites went out to gather manna six days a week. In this way our difficulties will help us change. They will "do you good in the end" - Deuteronomy 8:16.

PRAYER: Dear God, please help me understand the roots of my irritability, impatience, worry — all the things that show up in me when I'm under stress. Help me to deal with them in a way that will build character and trust in You. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Do your 8-12-year-olds have daily devotions? Point them to Bible Drive-Thru.

Signs of spiritual malnutrition

TODAY'S SPECIAL: 1 Corinthians 3:1-9

TO CHEW ON: "For you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?" 1 Corinthians 3:3

A few days ago we talked about the way Paul divides people into three categories: natural (1 Corinthians 2:14), spiritual (1 Corinthians 2:15-16) and carnal (1 Corinthians 3:1-4). Today we're going to take a closer look at what it means to be carnal.  A footnote in my Bible defines it:

"The carnal man, regenerate but living much like an unregenerate is a believer with childish ways, as seen in a jealous and sectarian spirit. An immature Christian lives more for human opinion than for Christ" - Donald Pickerill,  New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1582 (emphasis added).

Paul points out attitudes of envy, quarreling and division in his readers as signs of their carnal bent. Other scriptures that talk about the carnal / earthly / natural / governed-by-human-nature outlook describe it as:

• Living without regard to its mortality (Psalm 49:11).

• Anti-God, refusing to be governed by His laws and principles (Romans 8:7).

• Living dependent on human intelligence and insight alone (Ephesians 4:17). 
•  Alienated from God because if its own wicked deeds and actions (Colossians 1:21).

• Proud of its humanly imagined belief systems (Colossians 2:18).

• In a tug-of-war with the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:17).

• Controlled by lust (Ephesians 2:3).

• Controlled by physical appetites (Philippians 3:19).

• Opportunistic, looking at godliness as a means of making money (1 Timothy 6:5).

Some of the above are references to out-and-out non-believers. But the disturbing thing is that in some cases the people Paul is talking to are supposedly Christ-followers—part of the church family. How did they get to such a state?

Malnutrition (1 Corinthians 3:2). They are stunted babies, not growing because they won't eat anything but the mildest of spiritual milk. They can't handle hearty spiritual food.

And let's not let ourselves get smug in thinking that we are immune from carnality in all its manifestations. A sidebar article in my Bible sums it up so well:

"The demanding truth of this passage is that no amount of supposed spiritual insight or experience reflects genuine spiritual growth if it is separated from our basic growth in the knowledge of God's Word in the Bible. Without this rootedness in the Word, we may be deluded about our growth. Such "rootedness" is in truth and love, not merely in learning knowledge or accomplished study. In order to experience true spiritual growth, we must spend time in the Word and separate ourselves from the hindrances of lovelessness and competitiveness and strife" - Jack W. Hayford, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1583.

PRAYER: Dear God, help me to read and apply Your truths to my life. Help me to deal with sin where You by Your Word and Spirit convict me. I want my "spiritual man" to win over my "carnal man" tendencies. Amen.


MORE: A difference of degree

"The difference between the spiritual Christian and the carnal Christian is one of degree. Becoming spiritual (= mature) is a gradual process in which the enthroned Christ subdues more and more of our remaining corruption, and we become more and more in tune with his Spirit. The fruit of the Holy Spirit pervades more and more of our lives, and the old sins lose more and more of their hold. This comes to pass as we trust Christ more and more fully as the all-satisfying friend and guide of our daily lives" - from  "Rethinking the Carnal Christian"  By John Piper. 

© Desiring God. 

Website: desiringGod.org

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Three types of people

The Bible—a living book.

TODAY'S SPECIAL: 1 Corinthians 2:10-16

TO CHEW ON: "But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one." 1 Corinthians 2:14,15

If you came to Christ as an adult, or even a teen, you may have experienced what verse 14 talks about. As a "natural man" or woman, the Bible made no sense to you. You couldn't understand its appeal.

But then, however it came about, you accepted Christ. After that perhaps almost mysteriously, the Bible came alive. You began to see that it is a story in which you have a part—and you were eager to understand that story and more fully grasp your part in it.

Those are two types of people Paul names here: natural and spiritual. Here's how Donald Pickerill, the writer of my Bible's notes on 1 Corinthians describes them:

NATURAL: "… unregenerate and devoid of the Spirit has no appreciation for the gospel" Donald Pickerill, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1582.

SPIRITUAL: "… regenerate and possessing spiritual maturity, as seen in freedom from sectarian strive (1 Corinthians 3:3,4), has a nature that responds to the truth and unbelievers find him difficult to understand" - Ibid.

There's a third type. Paul talks about it in the next chapter—the carnal. These people have accepted Christ but you'd hardly know it by their lives. Paul calls them "babes in Christ," the kind that need milk, not solids. You can tell who they are by their behaviour—characterized by envy, strife, divisions "behaving like mere men." Mr. Pickerill's description:

CARNAL: "The carnal man, regenerate but living much like an unregenerate, is a believer with childish ways, as seen in a jealous and sectarian spirit. An immature Christian lives more for human opinion than for Christ" - Ibid.

The question each of us needs to ask is—which person describes me? And if we are Christ's but find ourselves more like the carnal than the spiritual, at what point did we stop growing? 

Let's ask the Holy Spirit to do the things Paul says He does: search, impart and teach (1 Corinthians 2:10,12,13) so we can again grow and mature.

PRAYER: Dear God, please help me to be tuned in to the deep things of the Spirit, teachable, obedient and growing. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.