| OCR Text |
Show A CHILD TO A MAN "WHEN I WAS A CHILD, I SPOKE AS A CHILD, I UNDERSTOOD AS A CHILD, I THOUGHT AS A CHILD: BUT WHEN I BECAME A MAN, I PUT AWAY CHILDISH THINGS. " (1 CORINTHI ANS 13: 11) There are some men who we find it hard to think of them as ever having been a child. For me, that includes people like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Booker T. Washington, Martin Luther King Jr., Morgan Freeman, John Hildery Davis, and even some of you. But, when we give serious thought to the matter, we have to conclude that except for Adam, every man including Jesus was first a human baby and then a child. We started 1 out without teeth, unable to control our body functions, depending totally on others to meet our needs, and having to grow into whatever we would become. The Apostle Paul wrote letter after letter to the saints including those of the Corinthians belonging to Jesus Christ. He wanted them to be the best that they could be and to grow up, be mature as believers in Jesus Christ. In fact, he tells all of us time and time again to grow and become more and more like Jesus. The Bible says even of Jesus, "And the child grew and waxed strong in spirit and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel... And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man." (Luke 1: 80 and 2: 52) He was in every manner like you and me. 2 Although born a baby and found in the house as a child, He grew to become a man like every other man. Paul was trying to get the Christians at Corinth to grow up and act like adults for Christ. So he explains to them in chapter 12 the distribution of gifts by the Spirit of God. Then he _said that whatever gifts they had were of no effect, were childish behavior without love. Love is the ultimate sign of having grown up. Listen to the text one more time from the love chapter if you will, "When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. " He is talking about getting rid of that spiritual pride, those crude and uninformed ways, those puffed up 3 behaviors, that inarticulate noise, prattling and babbling. He wants them to put aside all that confuses and baffles in exchange for that which is understandable and sense able. All we know is that our thinking shall be changed. We will grow up and put away childish things. We will no longer behave in the ways that keep others from growing and becoming. We need to put aside our childish ways and become men and women, mature and productive. 4 |
