Lane

1 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ.
2 I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able;
3 for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?
4 For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal? 1Corinthians 3:1-4

I was a babe in Christ, I felt a passion, I wanted to move mountains…I wanted to reflect wisdom but would only reflect passion and enthusiasm. This was good.  This is a season where we are fresh blooms in Christ. We are the spring lambs…

Our seasons change as God’s promise and desire for us to grow in His wisdom will be fulfilled. We will wipe the milk of our childhood off our face and grow into a nourishment of solid food. For what baby eats solid food? Carnal is not worldly, but new and hungry in Christ in this sense. Paul conveys this to the church.

…and in our season as a spring lamb, can we hear the wisdom of an old man? We have enthusiasm and passion as we await season after season of growth. All in God’s time, however. We cannot receive the deeper meaning as we are still in a stage of transforming from the world to the spirit. We are new, we have the gaze of wonderment toward a God who is now appearing to us with more clarity. There is lifetime of following in our pilgrimage in God’s way where we learn to walk, speak, eat, and then teach. It is a cycle and it is in order. Bear with metaphor. All is a definition of our life in Christ from beginning to now. Some of us crawl and those of us who are partaking of His word in deeper meaning, are feeding the crawling. They will soon stand. In His time.

Our tendency in our carnal nature is to still feel a calling from our old nature. It is confusing and will never leave us. It is our resistance and growth, adorned with the armor of Christ, that helps us depart from those old ways. We divide and we have strife and envy because we have not yet begun to walk. It is in faith where we must listen. Paul conveys this. Seek a new believer and lead them in the direction of the path to God. They are ready to be shaped. We will follow and latch onto our pastors, our parents – for good reason, but the season of latching on to man shall pass. We must learn to separate and become one with Jesus. Latch on to Him through the Spirit and really hear. For Paul was not there to be worshipped, nor Apollos, but to convey a divine message.

God has ways of separating you from those whom you’ve latched onto passed your season. His will is done. Realize we are growing:

1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1:1-2

We are separated from those whom we place on a pedestal. We become surrounded by a great cloud of saints and we are prepared to leave our days of milk and carnal nature for days of growth with endurance.

We do not proceed on our pilgrimage alone. We are with others who walk His path, speak His wisdom, and seek His wisdom. Grow into Christ and seek the deeper meaning of God’s plan. He will lay it before you. Step forth.

Rick Stassi

December 7, 2011