Perspective: Turn the Page

I share these thoughts, hoping they are of help to someone else.

Turn the Page

Scripture:

When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, reason like a child, think like a child. But now that I have become a man, I've put an end to childish things.

1 Corinthians 13:11 (CEB)

I am trying to understand
How to walk this weary land
Make straight the paths that crooked lie
Oh Lord, before these feet of mine

From "Your Hands" by JJ Heller

St. Paul, in his first letter to the church in Corinth, includes a meditation on the nature of love.¹ Toward the end of this "Love Chapter", Paul throws in an exhortation to put aside childish things. In the past, this part has bothered me: the thought of putting behind me everything I ever loved as a child is unsettling to say the least. Since then, I have come to realize that this not a call to stuffiness but a call to put aside immaturity.

To restate what I have written before,² there is a major difference between being childish and being childlike. For example, there is nothing inherently wrong with being an adult and enjoying things like comic books and video games. Liking such things does not necessarily mean that one is immature. On the other hand, one can act completely sophisticated and proper and still be selfish, petty, and irresponsible. Being childlike is a good thing: we should strive to have the faith, joy, hope, honesty, and unconditional love characteristic of children. Christ even calls us to come to Him with the heart of a child.³ What we should seek to do is to hold on to our childlikeness while putting aside our childishness.

Lately, though, I have begun to see more implications to Paul's exhortation than I did previously. I am beginning to see that this is more than just a call to put aside immaturity: it is a call to growth and movement.

We are all on a journey called life. This journey takes each of us in different directions. Sometimes our path is straight and smooth, and other times our path is rocky and winding. We see mountaintops of joy, and we see valleys of pain. We should never expect for the pace and the path of our journey to remain the same throughout our entire lives. Our journey will inevitably change over time.

We are not called to throw away everything that we once held dear just because we grow older. It is important to realize, though, that it is completely possible that some of the things to which we are most attached and which bring us the most comfort might actually hold us back and prevent us from growing. This can even be true about things that are inherently good in nature. Staying within our comfort zones can rob us of the opportunities God wants to give us to grow and to progress on our journey.

Jesus called twelve men as disciples to accompany Him throughout His ministry here on Earth. They followed Him for three years, learning from Him and watching Him perform miraculous acts of kindness and healing. The Disciples would have happily continued to do so for the rest of their lives, but Jesus knew that His time on earth would be brief. Jesus never intended for the twelve to spend their lives shadowing Him. Instead He was training them to continue the work He started. He once said to them, "I assure you that whoever believes in me will do the works that I do. They will do even greater works than these..."⁴ He intended for the Disciples to be like Him, to do what He did, and to even surpass Him. He intended for them to graduate from being disciples - those who follow - to being apostles - those sent out on a mission.

Jesus never intended to send the apostles out on their journey alone. He promised them that the Holy Spirit would be there to remind them of everything that He taught them and to guide them throughout their journey.⁵ This same Spirit, the Spirit that empowered the apostles as they built the Church throughout the world, is available to us to guide us on our own journey through life.

In this journey of life there will be times when we need to plant ourselves where we are, but there will also be times when we need to uproot ourselves and to move on so that we can grow. It is important that we remember to ask God for His Spirit to guide us and to help us throughout our journey. If we do so, the Holy Spirit will help us to discern which direction to take in life and to discern when we need to stay where we are and when we need to move forward on our journey. Our journey will change, but God is always there for us.


Notes:
1 - 1 Corinthians 13
2 - See my perspective: "Snakes, Doves, and Children"
3 - Matthew 19:14
4 - John 14:12 (CEB)
5 - John 14:25-26


If you have any feedback, thoughts, stories, or even arguments to contribute, please leave comments.