Grow Up! part 2
I could have called this Rant series, "Growing Pains." Because a lot of the time that's what we have. It's easy to get complacent. To get comfortable. Even in an uncomfortable situation. It's amazing to me what human beings are willing to accept. And we just shrug our shoulders and say, "It be like that sometimes." The thing is... growth is uncomfortable. It stretches you. Pulls you out of that comfort zone. Look at 1 Corinthians 4:14-15 in the Message Bible, "I'm not writing all this as a neighborhood scold just to make you feel rotten. I'm writing as a father to you, my children. I love you and want you to grow up well, not spoiled. There are a lot of people around who can't wait to tell you what you've done wrong, but there aren't my fathers willing to take the time and effort to help you grow up. It was as Jesus helped me proclaim God's Message to you that I became your father."A couple of things here. First of all... what parent wouldn't want their kids to grow up well? That's why we try to teach things that will help them live their best life. And living your best life DOESN'T mean getting what you want all the time. Sometimes it means NOT getting what you want. And that's one thing we need to learn about God--just because He doesn't give us the answer we want... doesn't mean He hasn't given us the answer we need. We need to learn that NEED is more important than WANT. We need to learn... that we need to learn. That we can't stay in the same spot and expect something different. If you always do what you've always done... you'll always get what you've always got. If you want something different... you have to do something different. Unless you're building something. In which case, stay the course. Find people who support you. Not people who want to tear you down, but people who will put in the time and effort to build you up. Jesus helped (and is helping, and will help) me. That means I can help you. You can't give what you haven't got, and you can only give what you have got. Receiving and releasing what our heavenly Father has given us is the only way we can grow up. Testing the height, and depth, and length, and breadth of God's love for us by loving each other bigger and stronger than we ever thought we could. You test how much God loves you by loving people. And by "test" I mean "prove to yourself." Like, "How much does God love me? Let me count the ways. Let me show myself... by loving Him back... by loving people!" Because, again, you can't give what you don't have. And you can only give what you do have. The maturity we have comes from our Father. He fills us up with Himself and then we can let that love--because, remember, God IS love--come out of us. Naturally. It's not about what we can or can't (mostly can't) do for or by ourselves. It's about what God does in us. Jesus is God IN the flesh. Love IN a body. God in OUR flesh. Love in OUR body. So we need to receive it and release it. We need to get out of our comfort zone. Stretch ourselves. Love more than we ever thought we could. That's how we grow. And sometimes there are growing pains. But that's how we know we're making progress!