I love it when my grandkids or some of the kids from my church who are the age of my grandkids come up to me with an expression or joke I heard when I was in my early teens. It really does take me back, and for just a minute I’m a teenager in middle school in Northern Virginia.
But then I do what many of us “old timers” do and say something like, “Wow, I haven’t heard that in 40 years.” And, to the kids, while hopefully it’s not too big a deal, I’m sure in their minds I’ve just dissed them (I think that’s the expression they use today) for something they thought was so original. You see, their joke or expression is still new to them. They’ve just learned it and they figure when they tell it to me or any adult, it will be no different from them telling it to one of their friends. They just assume everyone is hearing it for the first time.
I realize if I related just a little better with the younger generation I would simply laugh along with them and act like it was the first time I’d ever heard whatever it is they’re telling me.
And then I got to thinking. How often do we do the same thing with a new believer? Paul said in his letter to the Corinthians, “Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly–mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready.” (1 Corinthians 3:1-2)
When a new believer comes to us spiritually mature Christians with something they’ve just learned about the Bible or some revelation they’ve had, do we share in their excitement, or do we act like we’ve known what they’re telling us all our lives? Or, worse yet, do we use it as a teaching moment–a chance to teach them how much smarter we are about spiritual things?
If a young Christian (and I don’t necessarily mean a young person, but someone who is young in his faith) comes to me and says something that is doctrinally not quite right, I have an obligation to explain what is correct. However, when a young believer gets excited because of something he just learned that I figured out 20 years ago, this should be an opportunity to simply share in his excitement. Not just for his sake, but for mine as well. I should use this opportunity to re-experience the newness of my early relationship with Christ.
Listen, the sanctification process is a journey. It doesn’t happen all at once. So what we learn as we grow in our faith and as we grow in our relationship with Jesus is also a journey. Just as I wouldn’t expect a child to know what an adult knows, I shouldn’t expect a believer who is still only drinking milk to instantly be ready to eat solid food. Here’s what I’ve learned: Even though spiritually I’ve gone beyond milk and have now progressed to solid food, I realize that the solid food is just pablum compared to the filet mignon on which I will feast in heaven.
Thom Fishow
July 11, 2010