Growing up on the farm we had a ritual every fall and it usually happened around Labor Day Weekend. It was usually time to separate the cows from the calves and to lock the steers up to get them ready for butchering. The reason we separated the cows and calves is so the calves would be weaned off of the cows and they wouldn’t be dependant on their moms for milk and nourishment. They often complained for the first few days, but after the realization they were eating better, it usually stopped. Being weaned off of milk also has spiritual terms also.
There are several places in the New Testament where the writers explain that we need to move from spiritual milk to spiritual meat. It is our way of not only growing up, but also maturing in the faith. We can not stay an immature Christian forever. In 1 Corinthians 3 the Apostle Paul is exhorting the church for not growing up. They have gotten the Jesus loves them idea, but growing up just wasn’t happening. They were claiming to be Christians, but were still doing worldly things such as gossip, jealousy, and petty fighting. What Paul was saying to the church at Corinth and can still be said for us today is, its time to knock off the petty stuff and grow up. There has to be a point in our lives that we go from knowing that Jesus loves us no matter what, to putting earthly things away and living a transformed life. Living this transformed life does mean we can put the old or bad things away and then live a holy life by ourselves. If that was the case, Christ death and resurrection would be pointless and His grace would be cheap. The only way I know how not to cheapen God's grace, is by participating in Christ death, so not only that we can be raised up with Him and to be transformed in His image and live in that image of being a child of God
Now we are all at different points in our spiritual maturity and our age does not matter or even how long we have been in the church. Being in the church and growing in maturity are two different things. We can spend all of our time in church and be immature, but if we don't go to church, there is no chance of maturing. We can walk into a auto mechanic shop and spend a lot of time there, learning how to be a mechanic, but that doesn't make us a mechanic. Not until we spend time learning and putting into practice what a mechanic does, this is when we become a mechanic. This is true with our Christian life, we can go to church and learn about God, but until we put into practice and grow, are we really growing in Christ. Our goal is to grow in God’s grace and to have Him change us. We are to reflect God’s character and not anybody else, because God is the author and the perfector of our faith. We all have areas where God is challenging us to grow up. There are times where God challenges us gently, but then there are times where He comes and does the Gibbs head slap. (on the tv show NCIS, one of the character; Gibbs, often gives his subordinates a slap to the back of the head when its time to knock it off and to grow up). It is not easy nor is it even fun at times to grow up, this means that we need to put away old habits and ways of life, but the results of this will be very beneficial. It has been said that we are either growing up and maturing or sliding and becoming immature in our Christian faith. There is no standing still, so with this challenge, I challenge all of us that it is time to grow up.
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