When I was a Child "I Spoke" Part 1

 

 

  I Corinthians 13:11 “When I was a child, I spoke like a child; I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man/woman, I gave up childish ways.”

 

A wise woman once told me, change is inevitable but growth is optional. Recently, I was working out with a woman who is in the process of losing weight. This older man approached me afterwards and said, “I have seen your friend in here for 2 years now and still there has been no change, that’s a shame.” I thought to myself, “I have seen you in here for 2 years as well and you are still chasing after women, being unfaithful to your wife, and most of all you could be my grandfather.” That evening God convicted me heavily and spoke ever so clearly, look in the mirror Jennifer. “You have been walking with me now for 12 years and there are still areas in your life where you are still wearing spiritual diapers so to speak still operating in the flesh. In other words there has been no growth. Sure I got older, time went by, but spiritually I was still in Elementary school.

 In fact in chapter 3 of 1 Corinthians verses 1-2, Paul says the same things to them as well as us. “But I brothers/sisters, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh.” Flesh, what does Paul mean by the flesh?  Charles Pope defines it as, “Perhaps most plainly it refers to that part of us that is alienated from God. It is the rebellious, unruly and obstinate part of our inner self that is operative all the time. It is that part of us that does not want to be told what to do. It is stubborn, refuses correction, and does not want to have a thing to do with God. It bristles at limits and rules. It recoils at anything that might cause me to be diminished or something less than the center of the universe. The flesh hates to be under authority or to have to yield to anything other than its own wishes and desires. The flesh often desires something simply because it is forbidden. The Protestants often call the flesh our “sin nature” which is not a bad term in summarizing what the flesh is.” I wonder how many of us if we are really honest with ourselves would have to agree that we are still riding bikes with training wheels on spiritually. How many of us still walk according to the flesh. The Corinthians did and that was one of their main problems.

The Church at Corinth was far from the ideal model of a first-century apostolic church. It had been planted in one of the most difficult and challenging cities in the Roman World. (The Greek word korinthiazomai) (literally, "to act the Corinthian") in fact came to mean "to commit fornication.")  This church had every spiritual gift known to man, but lacked maturity, unity, and most of all love. Paul challenged the Corinthians to be faithful to Christ in spite of living submerged in a culture that sin was the norm and everyone was participating in it. Not unlike America or Western Christianity today.

(The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2001 (1 Co 13:11). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.)

The challenges facing this new community of saints were issues of church unity, sexual immorality, marriage, divorce, litigiousness, modesty, authority, spiritual gifts, and hope.  As Paul spoke to the Corinthian believers regarding matters of their Christian faith, life, and ministry, he also speaks clearly and loudly to us today. Thus he would challenge our generation to “Give up childish ways!”

Most people hear 1 Corinthians chapter 13 at weddings because it paints a picture of what real love looks like and how it behaves. The context really has nothing to do with marriage it mainly focuses on operating and serving the body of Christ with one’s spiritual gifts. (The principles can be applied in marriage). In Chapter 12 the Corinthians were using their spiritual gifts in the flesh and causing confusion. Paul implores them as well as us to operate in love in Chapter 13. In essence Paul says:

·         It doesn’t matter how gifted you are with your words and speaking in tongues if you don’t love you sound like a noisy gong or clanging cymbal.

·         It doesn’t matter how much knowledge, or mysteries you understand, prophetic power you possess or faith to move mountains that you have, if you don’t love you are nothing.

·         It doesn’t matter how much you give to the poor, or sacrifice if you don’t have love you gain nothing.

Then Paul goes on to describe what love looks like and behaves like which I will save for a future post. After that Paul continues to say that all of our gifts will pass away but faith, hope, and love will remain.

In between these favorite verses of mine is our key verse today. “When I was a child, I spoke like a child; I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child, when I became a man/woman I gave up childish things.” Working with children for the past 11 years has helped me ponder this verse. Working with adults in the summer has also given me insight on childish ways we need to give up. Notice first of all the word child. This word is referring to a very young child, not yet of legal age. As a Christian it is important to grow up spiritually and not view spiritual things from a child’s perspective.

It is interesting to note the past tense of these verbs in these verses, I was, I spoke, I thought, I reasoned, and I gave up, more on that later.  For today’s post let’s focus only on “I spoke as a child.”

Speech is powerful. Words have a way of healing you or hurting you. Helping you or hindering you. Children babble, have loose lips, speak careless words, and repeat things easily. Whoever said “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me” ummmm LIED! If we are really honest with ourselves most of our deepest wounds come from words. Words can bring life or bring death the bible says. As Christian adults our speech is a huge indicator of our maturity level. When Paul describes love in the verses 4-8 he paints us a picture of what it is not. Let’s pick out the ones that have to do with our speech first.

Love does not boast….Kids boast and brag. Boast means to talk with excessive pride and self-satisfaction about one's achievements, possessions, or abilities.  Kids are the first to brag about what new shoes, or game they received, or what they accomplished all by themselves. As adults it sounds a little more subtle like, “I saved ______ souls this year”, I have _______ degrees/titles, I accomplished______! “Look who I know or am dating!”

 Proverbs 27:2 says, “Let praise a stranger praise you, and not your own mouth; and not your own lips.” 

 Jeremiah 9:23 says, “Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches”

1 Corinthians 1:31 says, “Therefore, as the Scriptures say, "If you want to boast, boast only about the LORD."

Love is not arrogant….Kids especially teenagers are arrogant. Arrogant means having or revealing an exaggerated sense of one's own importance or abilities. I guess we could say this is a step up from boasting. This is the kind of Christian who forgot where they came from. It’s like the man or woman who loses a bunch of weight but refuses to thank those who helped along the journey. Who now looks down upon those who were in the same struggle as they were in? God forgive us for our arrogant I did it all by myself look at me attitudes. 

 1 Corinthians 4:7 says, “For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?”

Love is not rude…Children say rude or insulting things to others or about others sometimes.  Rude means offensively impolite or ill-mannered. Children hit below the belt and don’t fight fair. They use other’s weaknesses against them. It is amazing to me how many of us in the body of Christ are comfortable accepting from other Christians but then will turn around and insult or hurt the very ones who had our backs by wreck less careless words.  

Colossians 3:8 says, “But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.”

Ephesians 5:4 says, “Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.”

Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth…Kids lie and tell stories. To lie means A false statement deliberately presented as being true; a falsehood. Something meant to deceive or mistakenly accepted as true: To present false information with the intention of deceiving. To convey a false image or impression: Appearances often lie. Our world is so backwards in that people get mad at people when they tell the truth no wonder it is easier to lie. People lie for various reasons. Children lie mainly out of fear; fear of disappointing the one they lied to, fear of admitting their failure, fear of reaping the consequences or rejection. I think adults do these things as well. I’ve noticed in the body of Christ when people admit the truth sometimes they receive rejection, abandonment, or even punishment. That doesn't mean you should stop telling the truth.

 Proverbs 12:22 “Lying lips are abomination to the LORD: but they that deal truly are his delight.”

  Proverbs 13:5 “A righteous man hates lying: but a wicked man is loathsome, and comes to shame.”

Proverbs 14:5 “A faithful witness will not lie: but a false witness will utter lies.”

 Ephesians 4:25 says, “Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.”

Love is not irritable…children complain.  To be irritable means having or showing a tendency to be easily annoyed or made angry. As adults we do this too. We display our anger through tantrums, mumbling under our breath, and complaining about the other person instead of looking in the mirror at ourselves.

 Ephesians 4:26 says, “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger”

 James 1:20 says, “For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”

Love is not resentful….Sometimes children don’t say anything at all and let it fester until it becomes resentment. Resentment means…. feeling or expressing bitterness or indignation at having been treated unfairly. Adults are afraid to confront others when they become offended so they don’t say anything at all and let it fester into resentment. Then they tell others about what happened to them and the person who offended them has no idea what they did wrong! Meanwhile they are painting the offender in a negative light.

  Mark 11:25 says, “And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”

 Hebrews 12:15 says, “See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled”

One might ask, so now what? I am not perfect what am I supposed to do now?! I would say neither am I but we are in this together. The fact that we are still drawing breath means that God is not done with us yet. This post I challenge us to repent of any known sin and renounce it. Then go back and pray these scriptures over our lives and ask God daily to help us with our speech. One prayer I literally pray every day is this:

Heavenly Father please put a muzzle over my mouth and grant me grace to speak only words that speak life and not death.  Let no corrupt talk come out of my mouths, but only such words as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. Help me to live in reality of Matthew 12:36 which says, “But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the Day of Judgment for every empty word they have spoken.” I pray in Jesus Name Amen!

I Love you all so much! Thanks for going on this journey with me! Live Fit4eternity!

 

Digging Deeper: Get alone with God this week and ask yourself these questions. Then confess any sins.

·         When was the last time I boasted in anything other than the Lord?

·         When was the last time I pumped up my flesh to exaggerate the sense of my own importance?

·         When was the last time I said something rude or impolite towards someone or about someone?

·         When was the last time I lied to someone, to myself, or to God?

·         When was the last time I was irritable with someone and displayed my anger in an unrighteous way?

·         Is there anyone I am holding resentment towards? Have I gone to that person and shared how they have hurt or injured me?