Growing is hard work. I didn't really realize just how difficult it is until the last 9 months as I have watched our daughter grow and change. It's difficult. She doesn't know what's going on, or how to communicate what she needs or wants. It must be so frustrating for her. At the beginning she was completely dependent on me. She couldn't move or eat or anything but sleep and poop without me. Now, she does a lot more on her own. She still needs me, but not as much as she did before. She can crawl now. So the moving thing is more in her control. She definitely isn't going as fast as she would like to go, but she's getting there. I can see that the actual act of growing is difficult. She needs to sleep so much more when she's going through a growth spurt. She cries when her teeth hurt as they try to grow out of her gums. She gets frustrated when she can't quite perform a skill that she wants to do like walking. Growing is difficult. So, why do we think as adults, in our Christian lives, that it would be any different?
I don't know about you, but I can totally speak for myself when I say that I want things to be easy. I don't want to have to work for the things I want. I just want them to happen. For example, I would love to be able to run a 5K again. Flashback for a second with me. Seven years ago, I was walking every day. I decided that I wanted to start running instead. Couch to 5K was popular so that's what I did. I was running 30 minutes straight and was signed up for a 5K. Now, I didn't actually run the whole thing, but I did participate and I ran more than half of it. Back to present day, I can barely walk to the end of the road and back and I want to run again? If I really want to do that, it's going to take some work. I can't just get up one day and decide to run a 5K. For starters I'm about 40 pounds heavier than I was seven years ago, so that's got to change. Also, my knees are not as strong, and after having a baby, my body is just different. If I want to do it though, it's going to take some work. it's going to hurt. I'm going to have to give up things to reach my goal.
Let's transfer this principle. As a Christian, I want things to be easy. After all, I've made the right choice. I know that God is real and that he sent his son to die on the cross for me to save my soul. Shouldn't that mean that I get a pass on the hard stuff? I so wish that it did. But, the truth of the matter is that because we know the truth and because we have made the difficult choice of following Christ, it's not going to be easy. And, if we want to grow in our faith, it's going to be down right hard.
Romans 8:17 "This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?” God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what’s coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we’re certainly going to go through the good times with him!" (MSG)
Being honest here, I didn't like the message translation when I first read it, because it wasn't the way I had memorized my memory verses in Sunday school. But, as I've grown I have come to realize that I didn't always understand the "thee"s and "thou"s of the KJV, but when I read several translations together I really start to understand what I'm reading. In order for us to grow sometimes we have to take those extra steps. Back to Romans 8:17.
We are joint heirs with Christ. That means that we get what he gets. How awesome is that to think about? I am so not worthy of that. Also, I'm sometimes afraid that I'm not cut out for that. After all, Christ prayed so hard in the garden that he ended up sweating blood. I've never worked that hard at anything. The good and bad news of this journey to grow in Christ is that what causes each of us to grow is different.
1 Corinthians 10:13 " No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it."
So, our temptations (those things that if we battle them with Christ will help us to grow) are tailor made for each of us. That's the bad news. The things we struggle with most will definitely be in our lives. The good news is that God is faithful. He will not allow us to be overtaken. He will give us a way out. The ultimate way out is Jesus. In every situation we can call on him and Christ will help us to fight.
Growing isn't just about fighting the good fight, it's also about learning and practicing skills. Dottie is learning to make sounds like "Mama" and "Dada" and "AGGGGGGHHHHHH" which she loves to practice. While some of the screaming tends to hurt my ears and make the dogs run for cover, she is learning. She's learning how to control volume, and pitch, and tone. Sometimes our growing can be hard on other people too (check back for that because that's a whole post on its own).
I don't know about you, but I can totally speak for myself when I say that I want things to be easy. I don't want to have to work for the things I want. I just want them to happen. For example, I would love to be able to run a 5K again. Flashback for a second with me. Seven years ago, I was walking every day. I decided that I wanted to start running instead. Couch to 5K was popular so that's what I did. I was running 30 minutes straight and was signed up for a 5K. Now, I didn't actually run the whole thing, but I did participate and I ran more than half of it. Back to present day, I can barely walk to the end of the road and back and I want to run again? If I really want to do that, it's going to take some work. I can't just get up one day and decide to run a 5K. For starters I'm about 40 pounds heavier than I was seven years ago, so that's got to change. Also, my knees are not as strong, and after having a baby, my body is just different. If I want to do it though, it's going to take some work. it's going to hurt. I'm going to have to give up things to reach my goal.
Let's transfer this principle. As a Christian, I want things to be easy. After all, I've made the right choice. I know that God is real and that he sent his son to die on the cross for me to save my soul. Shouldn't that mean that I get a pass on the hard stuff? I so wish that it did. But, the truth of the matter is that because we know the truth and because we have made the difficult choice of following Christ, it's not going to be easy. And, if we want to grow in our faith, it's going to be down right hard.
Romans 8:17 "This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?” God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what’s coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we’re certainly going to go through the good times with him!" (MSG)
Being honest here, I didn't like the message translation when I first read it, because it wasn't the way I had memorized my memory verses in Sunday school. But, as I've grown I have come to realize that I didn't always understand the "thee"s and "thou"s of the KJV, but when I read several translations together I really start to understand what I'm reading. In order for us to grow sometimes we have to take those extra steps. Back to Romans 8:17.
We are joint heirs with Christ. That means that we get what he gets. How awesome is that to think about? I am so not worthy of that. Also, I'm sometimes afraid that I'm not cut out for that. After all, Christ prayed so hard in the garden that he ended up sweating blood. I've never worked that hard at anything. The good and bad news of this journey to grow in Christ is that what causes each of us to grow is different.
1 Corinthians 10:13 " No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it."
So, our temptations (those things that if we battle them with Christ will help us to grow) are tailor made for each of us. That's the bad news. The things we struggle with most will definitely be in our lives. The good news is that God is faithful. He will not allow us to be overtaken. He will give us a way out. The ultimate way out is Jesus. In every situation we can call on him and Christ will help us to fight.
Growing isn't just about fighting the good fight, it's also about learning and practicing skills. Dottie is learning to make sounds like "Mama" and "Dada" and "AGGGGGGHHHHHH" which she loves to practice. While some of the screaming tends to hurt my ears and make the dogs run for cover, she is learning. She's learning how to control volume, and pitch, and tone. Sometimes our growing can be hard on other people too (check back for that because that's a whole post on its own).
That's my beautiful girl. Part of me wishes that I could keep her like this forever, but she must grow up. She has to learn to walk on her own, to talk for herself, and to be her own person. How exciting is all of that potential. But there will be days when growing is going to be hard. As Christians, some of our growing is going to be hard. It's going to take discipline to read God's word every day, it's going to be difficult to tell a friend that you disagree with them, because you follow God. But, we must grow. None of us can stay children forever.
Comments
Post a Comment