I am God's child (Part 2)

My wife, Shirley, and I have four kids...all teenagers...although one of them is reluctantly though relentlessly approaching her 20th birthday.  It is great watching them grow up into adulthood.  The last thing in the world I would want is for them NOT to grow up.  And yet, no matter how old and grown up they get, they will always be our children.

God wants all of us to grow up in Christ, too.  He doesn't want us to stay spiritual babies.  Paul wrote, "You're acting like infants in relation to Christ, capable of nothing much more than nursing at the breast...As long as you grab for what makes you feel good or look important, are you really much different than a babe at the breast, content only when everything's going your way?" (1 Cor. 3:1-3 MSG)..

Here's the paradox:  Though God doesn't want us to remain spiritually childish, He does want us to remain spiritually childlike...innocent of evil, trusting in His provision, humbly dependent upon Him in every way.  The surprising thing about being God's child, is that as you mature in Christ you become even more trusting and dependent on God...not less.  As you grow up in Christ, you do not grow away from your need for the Father, you grow deeper into your need for the Father.

At our house, our kids don't sweat it when meal time comes around.  They trust their parents to put food on the table.  And they don't worry about whether they'll have clothes to wear to school.  They know their parents have it all taken care of and so they are able to rest in the knowledge they are loved and will be cared for.  At times we humans fail as parents, but God is the greatest Parent there ever was or ever could be.  He never fails.  He is our heavenly Father, good and faithful every day.  Do you trust Him?  Have you learned to rest in your Father's provision...at peace in His arms?

I know, I know, you want to grow up in Christ...and well you should!  But you cannot be a man or woman of God without first learning what it means to be and live as a child of God...not childish but childlike.  I am God's child , God's kid.  And so are you, if you are a true follower of Christ.