Growing Up

You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. 1 Corinthians 10:21

My youngest graduated last night, which was, of course, both happy and sad. We’re thankful looking back and hopeful looking forward towards her future. We’re also sorrowful that our time with her in our house is ending. She too has been saddened as her time in high school is done. I’m not ready for this to be over.

Whenever those feelings threaten to overwhelm, I must remind myself of the alternative. What if she refused to leave? What if she tried to stay at home and just went back to her high school next year, attending the same classes? She knows, and I know, that she cannot remain a senior forever. She must grow, and growth means change. Refusal to grow and change would be abnormal and self-destructive. So, as painful as it may be, she must get older, leave home, and strike out on her own. She cannot grow and remain in high school. It’s an impossibility.

This isn’t altogether unlike the Christian life. As believers in Christ, we must continually abandon the old life to follow him. Because we’re not made perfect in this life, we’re meant to exist an ongoing state of transformation. Daily, we’re supposed to love God more, know him more, and follow him more. We’re meant to be continually growing up in our spiritual lives. We’re not made to remain in the exact same place year after year.

So many of us though, claim faith in Christ, while still following ourselves, and so, we don’t grow. Rather, we just become more entrenched in the old life. This may not seem that bad. We may not do drugs, but neither are we living the life of service to God for which he made us. We cannot follow God and self at the same time though. We cannot progress in the new life and the old life simultaneously. It’s an impossibility.

In today’s passage, Paul used severe terms to teach this principle. He said that we cannot drink from the cup and eat from the table of God while drinking and eating from the table of demons. We cannot follow God while doing the exact opposite. Daily, we make decisions that either grow our faith, moving us towards God, or we make decisions that move us away from him, towards ourselves. We cannot do both at the same time.

As Christians, we’re either growing up spiritually, or we’re not. If we want to be who God made us to be, then, like my daughter, we must embrace and pursue transformation. As scary as it may be, growing up is healthy and normal. As comfortable as it might seem, staying in the old life is not.

Love You Maggie!