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Faith by Debbie Wallis
Selfishness is one sign of immaturity. Babies are completely self-centered. They scream if they don't get what they want when they want it. All they are aware of are their own needs and desires. They can’t say thanks for anything. They can't help others; they can't give anything. They can only receive. There's nothing wrong with that when it occurs in the natural stage of infancy but to see a child whose development is arrested so that they never get beyond that stage of helpless selfishness is a tragedy. That is the spiritual state of many in the church today. They are preoccupied with self. They want their problems solved and their comfort level met. They’re spiritually under developed, and they remain in a continuous state of helplessness. This is as tragic as a baby that never matures mentally. Just as a baby crawls along the floor, putting anything it finds in its mouth, spiritual babies don't know what is good for them and what isn't. Immaturity and failure to be discerning go together. Paul appealed to Christians repeatedly to grow up spiritually. In Ephesians 4:14-15 he wrote, “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; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all
Monday, November 16, 2015 aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ.”
cannot be a light in the darkness of this world if you don’t think differently than the world thinks. You grow spiritually by mature The need to tolerate suggests that Christians “speaking the truth in there is a disagreement. Jesus love” to you and studying the truth Did you realize those are confronted sin in love. He never of God’s Word and allowing it to essentially the same mature skills accepted it as healthy. The change your thoughts. As you that are required in spiritual acceptance of wrong gives it the absorb the truth of God’s Word, you discernment? Careful thought, strength to grow. A discerning spirit grow and are built up in confidence keen interest, thorough analysis, will not accept sin to be right. of who you are in Him. That close observation—together with process of spiritual growth is also a alertness, attentiveness, You can’t gain the maturity of process of training for discernment. thoughtfulness, and above all, a discernment overnight, or through a love of truth. We use maturity and mystical experience. Maturity is “Though by this time you ought to discernment in whatever field of gained through walking out your be teachers, you have need again for endeavor is important to us. Yet Christianity, just as we learned to someone to teach you the what could be more important walk as toddlers by getting up and elementary principles of the truths than spiritual discernment? There falling down. Don’t stay down. of God, and you have come to need is no valid excuse for You are created to get up and follow milk and not solid food. For contemporary Christians to be the teachings of Jesus Christ. Get everyone who partakes only of milk tolerant of what God calls sin - it into the depth of His word by is not accustomed to the word of reveals a spiritual apathy that is applying it to your everyday righteousness, for he is a babe. But deadly evil. Tolerance is only a situations. That’s solid food. solid food is for the mature, who virtue to a man with no because of practice have their conviction. The church needs to If you don’t have a Bible please senses trained to discern good and regain its ability to be discerning contact me at sfadebbie@yahoo.com evil. Therefore leaving the by growing up spiritually. That and I will provide you one. elementary teaching about the means confronting the ungodly Christ, let us press on to maturity,” views this culture has adopted and Hebrews 5:12-6:1. diligently apply yourself to the unfailing Word of God. You are The writer of Hebrews was telling in this world to be different. You his readers, “You're babies. You've been around long enough to be teachers, but instead I have to feed you milk. I have to keep giving you elementary things. You can't take solid food. You're not accustomed to the rich things of the Word—and that is tragic.” Knowing and understanding the Word of God trains your senses to discern good and evil. Discernment results from a carefully disciplined mind to take your thoughts captive and to make sure they match up to what the Truth in God’s word is. Discernment is not a matter of feelings. The Old Testament closely linked discernment with a seasoned, developed, biblically informed mind. Most people are discerning about things that are important to them. People who regard a healthy diet as crucial watch carefully what they eat. They read the fine print on the package to see how many grams of fat it has and what percentage of the daily required nutrients it offers. People who work with dangerous chemicals must be very discerning. They study the procedures and the precautions very carefully to avoid any potentially lethal exposure. I know people who are very discerning sports enthusiasts. They watch a football game and can assess any offense, any defense, any play. They often feel they are more
discerning than whoever is calling the actual plays. They study statistics and averages and take it all very seriously.
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