Being and Becoming God’s Own

Years ago my little brother, seven years younger than I, suddenly grew many inches taller than me, over a summer in our young lives. What was troubling to mom and dad were not only the clothes they now had to buy for the next school year, but the pain he was having in his body. They took him to a doctor because it was so troubling. It seems he was growing so fast that it caused real pain from the bones in this toes to the top of his shoulders. It’s painful to grow, apparently.

It is the same in our spiritual lives. Real and lasting growth in becoming more and more like Christ requires pain in losing what should not be apart of us any longer. That loss means the gain of knowing Christ more but it also brings on more responsibility and commitment as The Potter molds and shapes us, knocking off and throwing down all that is not what He intended for us to be and do. It brings on real and painful distress. This distress either brings us closer to God or drives us away. What have we chosen? To take it easy and stay the way we are or choose to grow and mature into all God wants us to be? Doing nothing is a decision, too. Growth is distressful but not to grow brings a lifetime of regrets.

Paul knows. His first letter to the Corinthians was about growing up, growing closer to God, growing closer to each other in faith, hope and love. He was wise, passionate and loving enough to confront God’s church with should’s and how to’s. Now he praises them for taking it well, making changes with the distress driving them even closer to God.

This is a beautiful letter in what true repentance and growth can do for God’s church. This is only an excerpt…read it in it’s entirety to get the full flavor of how God works in His people who repent, believe, trust and obey as they grow up in Him.

2 Corinthians 7, The Message
8-9 I know I distressed you greatly with my letter. Although I felt awful at the time, I don’t feel at all bad now that I see how it turned out. The letter upset you, but only for a while. Now I’m glad—not that you were upset, but that you were jarred into turning things around. You let the distress bring you to God, not drive you from him. The result was all gain, no loss.

10 Distress that drives us to God does that. It turns us around. It gets us back in the way of salvation. We never regret that kind of pain. But those who let distress drive them away from God are full of regrets, end up on a deathbed of regrets.

11-13 And now, isn’t it wonderful all the ways in which this distress has goaded you closer to God? You’re more alive, more concerned, more sensitive, more reverent, more human, more passionate, more responsible. Looked at from any angle, you’ve come out of this with purity of heart. And that is what I was hoping for in the first place when I wrote the letter. My primary concern was not for the one who did the wrong or even the one wronged, but for you—that you would realize and act upon the deep, deep ties between us before God. That’s what happened—and we felt just great.

What do we learn?
–Distress in life drives us closer to God…or away, it’s our choice to grow and mature or not.
–What we lose as we mature becomes great gain in knowing Christ more and sharing in His sufferings. (Phil 3:10)
–No pain, no gain. ; )
–We develop a childlike faith but we do not remain childish in our faith.

Dear Heavenly Father, It is painful to grow because our human nature fights maturity and responsibility. We would rather be Your “children” without any responsibilities just as our children were when they were young. But as we grow closer, we realize that growing pains that drive us closer to You and to others is what You are after and what we need most as we journey here before living forever there with You. We get it. Help us to continue to grow…in all ways. In Jesus Name, Amen