PARENTHOOD
a divine stewardship

GROWING UNTO MATURITY BY EATING THE SOLID FOOD

Among today's Christians it is difficult to find one who is mature. Many Christians are still childish. In their joking with one another we cannot sense God. Also, they are too free in having contact with the opposite sex. It is no wonder that there is fornication even among Christians. A sister should not speak lightly to a brother. For a female to speak lightly is to sell herself cheaply. A sister must keep her female dignity (1 Tim. 2:9-10). This female dignity protects her from many sinful things. Furthermore, in order to avoid falling into sin, a sister should not get too near a member of the opposite sex. Our need is to grow unto maturity, to be matured. Even one who is still a teenager in his physical age can be a mature believer in Christ. I have seen some young people like this.

We need to grow unto maturity to know God, to know the Bible, to know the church, and to know today's situation and condition in a mature way. We should not be childish. In order to grow unto maturity, we need to eat solid food (Heb. 5:14; Col. 1:28). Drinking milk is for babes. Every day we need to drink a cup of milk from the Word. We also need to take some solid food from the Word. In the Bible words such as "God so loved the world" (John 3:16) and "Husbands, love your wives" (Eph. 5:25) are like milk. In contrast, those portions of the Word concerning God's creation of man in His image and according to His likeness, His preparing a human spirit by breathing His breath of life into man's nostrils, and His putting man in front of the tree of life, a figure of God Himself as life, are solid, like diamond. Nevertheless, we need to eat these portions. We need spiritual teeth that can eat such solid food, and we also need a spiritual stomach to digest such words. We need to grow unto maturity by eating the solid food....

Colossians 2:19 says that we are growing with the growth of God. This verse indicates that our God who is living in us is growing. In Himself He does not need to grow, for in Himself He is perfect and complete. Yet in us He needs to grow. He has been within many of us for years, but we may not allow Him to grow. I have seen some children who were so small at their birth that they had to be put into an incubator. However, from the time of their birth they lived in a situation and environment which fit in with their growth in every aspect. As a result, they grew to be very strong. In the same way, we need to give God a situation and environment that are fitting for Him to grow in us.

The growth of a plant depends on the environment in which it is placed. A plant in the shade may grow and yet bear no blossoms, whereas the same kind of plant placed in the sunshine may grow and produce many blossoms. In order to grow properly, plants also need to be in an environment where there is water and fresh air. Do we give our God the adequate environment for Him to grow in us?

...Going our own way is a restriction to the Lord's growth in us. Spending money loosely without any care for the Lord restricts God's growing within us. In everything we have to consider Him. We need to give Him the convenience and let Him have the liberty, the free way, to go on in us. If we do this, He will grow in us. He will become a "strong young man" in us (1 John 2:14b). We grow with the growth of God, and the growth of God simply means the increase of God. God is in us, but He is short of His increase in us because we do not provide adequate room, adequate space, for Him to grow.

Witness Lee, Fellowship with the Young People, pp. 10-13

APPLICATION

1. Explain the statement: "The Lord Jesus came as a life seed to sow Himself into our being."

2. Paul speaks in Colossians 2:19 about growing with the growth of God. What do you understand this growth to be?

3. Name some of the ways that we can use to grow in God. What are some of the hindrances to our growth?