A report card on Cuddling

Galatians 4:17-20

Did you look forward to getting your report card?  Report cards were a record of growth; it had a starting point and brought you up to date on your progress.  In the last few weeks Jan, my brother and his son and I helped our niece and nephew paint the inside of their house.  In the hall, leading to the pantry they had names and dates and lines showing the growth of each child.  It was a report card of their physical growth.  What is being discussed in these verses is not the physical but the spiritual growth.

The apostle begins in this way; “They make much of you, but for no good purpose.  They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them.”  (Galatians 4:17)  Who are  “they” that the apostle is referring to?  Ephesians 6:11-12, gives us a clear picture of where the battle is taking place; it is against the schemes of the devil, it is not against your mother or dad, your husband or wife, or the guy that lives next door; the battle is against the cosmic powers and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places, and one of their favorite tools is religion.

Way too often, we forget what a new Christian is: are they any different than an embryo?   How is an embryo formed, does it not begin with an egg and a sperm joining together and a life is formed?  You might say that grace is the egg and your faith is the sperm and out of that forms the new you, a baby in Christ Jesus.  When you and I were born physically we were pampered to this degree, someone recognized that we needed care; both food for the physical, and we needed to be cuddled, and talked to and taught, so that we would begin our growth.  Too often the church has no program for the spiritual baby, in fact they are either thrown into a class that is talking a language that they do not understand, and these cosmic powers and spiritual forces love that; it is called a GROWTH STOPPER.

Is anyone recording the growth of the new creation in Christ?  How will the new baby in Christ, understand their degree of spiritual growth?  Who is telling them of this new battle they have entered into?  Is it not true, that the first attack comes as “Did God really say?” and it is centered on how could a Christian have those thoughts or actions.  No one has taught them how the evil one uses the world and the flesh, and how he uses the past, where they learned to suck life out of one another, in order to get their needs met.  He also attacks their person, and he will use some truth in his attempts to guide them into a lie. 

It is clear that God has given us the ability to renew our minds in Romans 12:2 and in Ephesians 4:22-24; if our minds are not renewed, then we cannot hope to have growth, and that life will not be changed, and Christ will not be formed in them.  The Scripture is clear on this point; the Christian life is not about improving self, it is about dying to self, and becoming obedient to the Father. To have a Christian army that is effective in 2010, it will require the leadership of the Church to invest in cuddling, yes, they must be cuddled and encouraged, even given their own growth mark on the wall. 

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice