The Physical and Spiritual Cycle of Life

As Tammi and I have watched our children grow and are now witnessing our children raise children, I can’t help but think of the parallels between physically raising/nurturing babies to reach adulthood and spiritually raising/nurturing those who are ‘born again’ into mature Christians.

Once a baby is born, he/she must be taken care of by someone loving and mature enough to feed it a steady and consistent amount of milk; solid food would quickly choke or plug its system and kill it. The baby must be clothed and kept in an environment that’s healthy and relatively free of contaminants that would hinder their well-being and or, God forbid, kill them. They need to have their diaper changed regularly to prevent bodily fluids, etc. from harming them and be washed/lotioned/powdered, etc. to continually protect them from the elements.

As the baby grows, it still needs to be fed but can begin holding its own bottle, learn to crawl and eventually learn to walk. The baby still needs to be provided milk but the mature adult can be begin introducing solid foods and potty train them to properly dispose of their own waste. The adult must establish boundaries to their mobility, not necessarily to control movement, but to protect them from dangers they are unable to foresee.

As a child continues to grow, they develop the ability to feed themselves the food that is provided to them. In order to keep them healthy, they need a mature adult to provide proper nourishment; left to their own devices they will feed themselves only what tastes good and pleases their pallet (sugar, etc.) but is harmful to their body and ultimately causes sickness/disease and ultimately death. The child has no idea what is good for them, only what pleases their flesh at that moment; not realizing they’re killing themselves.

As a child reaches school age, they are still unable to make good nutritional decisions and they are very susceptible to every influence allowed in their life, both positive and negative. They must be protected and steered by a mature adult that has only their best interests in mind. As they stumble through childhood and adolescence, they must be guided by a steady, loving hand to help them navigate through the maze of pitfalls and dangers they regularly encounter; the loving adult must steadily monitor and allow the young person to begin making their own decisions.

Once the young adult reaches maturity, if raised properly, they begin making measured decisions but always stay close enough to the loving adult in order to receive counsel, advice and continual success.

When a person becomes a Christian (born again), they must be properly fed by a loving, mature Christ-follower. They must be fed a steady and consistent diet of the basics of God’s Word with love and acceptance. They will usually have messy habits that will continually pop-up and need to be washed/renewed by lovingly covering their faults and being the example. If they are born again and have no mature Christ-following influence in their life, they will quickly die and be swallowed up by the enemy as they are incapable of waging a spiritual fight on their own:

Matthew 13:3-4 - “Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them.

If a baby Christian is fed milk for a time but has nobody to nurture them, teach them how to feed themselves (prayer, basic Bible) and learn how to be set-free from their mess (get up and walk, spiritual warfare), they will quickly stagnate and become defeated time and time again until they return to their mess, in time, for good.

Matthew 13:5-6 - Some seed fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away.

If a baby Christian is raised by a loving, mature Christian long enough that he/she learns to somewhat feed themselves but begins to distance themselves from the loving, mature Christian(s) prior to reaching maturity, they will be negatively influenced by a the enemy that seeks to destroy anything that is Godly. They are easily defeated through the enticement of what feels good to their flesh (sin), which ultimately results in spiritual death.

Matthew 13:7 - And some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them.

If the baby Christian stays plugged-in to loving, mature Christians long enough to become a loving, mature Christian themselves, they learn to seek good counsel, learn from and accept the consequences of their mistakes and become spiritually successful enough to become the loving, mature Christian for their own spiritual babies.

Matthew 13:8 - But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

Time and time again, I see spiritual babies doing their best to survive among the thorns all around them without seeking any guidance from mature Christ-followers. They avoid the very thing that is their only hope. There is a lot of blame to go around, whether it be pride (self-sufficiency), dereliction of duty (church, mature Christians), limited knowledge with little understanding = lack of wisdom (claiming Christianity but living paganism), blaming your past hurts on others while undermining your future success, etc. but in order to survive this terribly fallen world/society we live in, you must plug-in and find a place to be fed, nurtured and loved.

If you claim to know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I encourage you to get plugged-in somewhere with someone and start your journey toward spiritual maturity. I am tired of watching spiritual babies die, struggle with habitual sin and pretend to have it all together when everything is falling apart.

This upcoming Mother’s Day will be my 31st birthday since beginning my walk with Christ. I’ve made tons of mistakes, made many messes, struggled with many vices and am still growing…. I thank God for those loving, mature Christ-followers that have guided me the past 31 years…. I’m still spiritually alive and well due to the spiritual influences I’ve allowed into my life… the journey continues…..

There is only one hope and His name is Jesus Christ!