Encouraging Spiritual Growth   

Everybody loves babies. We gather and fuss all over newborn babies, and we feel privileged to get to hold them. But blink a couple of times, and those babies become toddlers, and then they’re running around the auditorium and pretending to lead singing. Blink a few more times, and they’re no longer pretending.
So how soon do you let that baby or toddler or child take care of himself? We’ve all seen animals born, and many of them stand right up and start walking. Before you know it, they’re able to move around and take care of themselves, and mama’s job isn’t nearly that important anymore. But it doesn’t work that way with our children. We know they’re going to need lots of love and care for many years as they slowly grow and develop.
And what would we do if our child was not growing or developing as expected? We wouldn’t wait several months or a few years to see if they can somehow get better on their own. Because we love our children, we do all we can to make sure they’re getting everything they need to grow strong and healthy. And if some children need some extra help to survive and thrive, we’re gladly there to do whatever is necessary.
We often see the parallel between a physical birth and a spiritual birth, the similarities between being born physically and being born again spiritually. And just like our own children, a new child of God requires just as much love and care and attention to make sure he is growing like he should.
The apostle Peter once wrote, “Like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation” (1 Peter 2:2). God desires every newborn babe in Christ to grow. And just like it might take a village to raise a child, it may take a whole church family to raise a child of God. Someone once said, “We owe a debt to the people we bring to Christ. They deserve to be assisted to becoming mature disciples of Christ.”
I trust you realize that this doesn’t just apply to new Christians. Many of us throughout the years go through times when we are not as spiritually healthy as we should be. And just like a new child should not be left on his own, neither should any member of the church be left on his own to deal with the difficulties and weaknesses he may face.
So look for opportunities to help and encourage your brothers and sisters in Christ. Find a way to bless our new Christians and our old Christians. God is calling each of us to help everyone in our church family to grow.

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