Something I was taught as a young believer by my friend Brian Crall is that RATE X’s TIME = GROWTH. In other words, the amount of time that you spend X’s the rate at which you grow equals Growth.
So this is what that looks like for me. I am often perplexed by the amount of immaturity from believers in Christ who are much older than me!! People who have not applied the spiritual knowledge and/or fruit that we find in the scriptures. I would have a conversation with an elder in my church and think…“I’m not sure if they even know Jesus at all!” They would be so stinkin mean and critical of everything that I was doing. I finally built up the courage to ask one of them how he thought he was really encouraging me as a young pastor and he lashed out even more harshly. He was in no place to learn from someone or be questioned by someone that was younger than him. He was an “elder”…he knew better…but the only thing lacking in his life was any sort of resemblance of Christ!
I know that sounds hyper-critical or judgmental but the scriptures teach us that we will know people by their fruit. I am not trying to dishonor him or be disrespectful, however, I also have a responsibility to make sure and challenge all believers – young and old – to follow after Christ. I remember feeling so inadequate, fearful and scared of the authority that God had placed above me. How was I supposed to honor men that were less spiritually mature than I was?? See…the time that I spent with God and the rate at which I was growing equaled a lot more spiritual maturity than people 3 and 4 times my age. I realized that just because many people had been in the church their entire lives does NOT equal spiritual maturity.
There are way too many people who have forgotten to actually apply the truth of the scriptures in their lives and consequently Jesus is represented as judgmental – hypocrictical – lazy believers. The gospel wasn’t written to allow us to become apathetic and lazy…there is always something to work on in your character…there is always something that you need to spend some time looking at to grow…there is always more to learn about God. Please don’t allow yourself to age and to become grumpy and less gracious. People who follow after God become more grace-filled, more gentle, patient, kind, loving, caring, peaceful and compassionate. The more you understand how much you have been forgiven…the more you long to give it away.
Many of you reading this today need to be reminded of the fact that you should not “allow people to look down on you because of your youth”. You can only fake it for so long…either you are spending a lot of time with God or you aren’t. Eventually, you will be known by the fruit that is in your life and that fruit is only found by your knowledge of the truth and your intimacy with the Father! NOTHING can replace that or manufacture that.
Would you say that you are growing spiritually??
This is something we need to be reminded of regularly. It can be easy sometimes to fall in a rut and become lazy. Realizing we will always have something to work at to become more like Christ everyday is a good way to keep moving in the right direction.
Chad…it is so great to hear from you bro. I love that you are still slaving away after all these years after Bible College. I hope ministry is going well for you and that you aren’t allowing yourself or anyone around you to become apathetic!!
Great post, Blake. I had an older pastor once tell me that the second you don’t need God to work on anything more within you that He takes you home. So I’ve kept the mindset that as long as I’m breathing, there’s still more work to be done on my character. God certainly hasn’t been shy about working on it.
If we are smart enough to infiltrate our enemy’s camps, why wouldn’t Satan be smart enough to do the same thing? Heck the best way to drive people away from Jesus is to fill the church with unsympathetic butt heads that fill your head with meaningless rules…
If Jesus had difficulty with people like that (remember the white washed tombs?) why should we think we will have it easy?
Listen with your heart, with love, and God’s Holy Spirit will give you truth. Just be sure you want to know the answer before you ask…
Wow, this was stinkin incredible to read, Blake! There is a fist-bump coming your way! It is so refreshing to hear that age doesn’t necessarily mean spiritual maturity. And it’s awesome to hear it from “the big bad pastor.”
“The more you understand how much you have been forgiven…the more you long to give it away.”
I want to grow here so much!!
I know I am growing spiritually. Sometimes…no…most times when I stop and fully absorb what Christ has done in my life and what He continues to do, I break down. I find I am craving knowledge about Jesus and God and get frustrated when I feel like it’s not within my grasp. And I get frustrated when God doesn’t move at the rate that I think He should.
Looking younger than I am means I often deal with people not thinking I know what I’m talking about… until I start to talk and then I am often told I am wiser than my years. Which might be as hard to absorb as people looking down on you due to age. I am never really sure how to take it when people comment on how wise I am, because I honestly feel like I muck things up ALL-THE-TIME! I look at people older and younger than I am that I can learn so much from and feel like a total mess at times.
Maybe it is foolish to think you are wise and wise to recognize how little you know and how much more you have to learn?
I don’t know. I do feel like I go through some months where I am reading and taking a lot in and then other months I get swept up in the tide of life and I absorb less of what I’m reading. CP has definitely moved me towards being even more intentional in setting that time aside to seek God’s wisdom and to delve deeper into what I’m reading.
Elders like that are exactly what drove me away from the church and God so many years ago. Pastors like you are the reason I have found my way back. I am way older than you Blake, and the other Pastors at CP, and your youthful
enthusiasm about Christ and the lessons in the bible and how they fit into our lives in this day and age are refreshing and contagious!!! I grew up in the church and have read and heard sermons on many of the same passages you reference in each series and never once did I get the message it was meant to give until I heard it from the CP point of view. You guys have a unique way of conveying the messages so that regular people can apply them to their lives!
My job has me working with college aged young men and their passion for life and learning and fun is something that has kept me from becoming a grumpy less gracious person. I feel sorry for those my age who have become bitter and closed minded.
Don’t ever think age=experience. It just means you got older.
“People who follow after God become more grace-filled, more gentle, patient, kind, loving, caring, peaceful and compassionate.” …that is definitely what I hope to become and I hope that getting older never stands in my way of achieving it.
Don’t let anyone try to convince you that you are too young to know “the right way” or that asking questions is a bad thing. Questioning things we don’t understand is how we learn and grow. You are definitely on the right path with God in helping to show people like me what has been missing from my life all these years!!
Kristil…it looks like you were up late doing some thinking. Thank you so much for really thinking through this post and for your thoughts. I am so glad that you let me know that I wasn’t crazy in my thinking. I will continue to ask questions!