I've always had a frustration with people who use "baby talk" when speaking to infants. When my oldest son, Kai, was small, I was adamant with those in whom I entrusted his care to use "real words". The result was a child with an expansive and accurate vocabulary by the time he was two. He was able to communicate with anyone and took to reading easily.
Six years later this tradition was not so easily transferred to my son, Henry, who calls his bottle a "ba". Had Kai done this, I would've corrected him, even as a baby. Yet here we are and I'm calling it a "ba", too! I realized I was mimicking him when he should have been learning to follow my lead. How will Henry ever know the real words if he doesn't hear them from me?
Too often, this is the picture of the church. Perhaps it's weariness or frustration, but we often give up on "teaching up" and decide to mimic the spiritually immature instead of showing them the way to maturity. We end up with a church like the one addressed in Hebrews 5:12-14 "...by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil."
Practice. We cannot expect a church full of mature leaders when we've not created an environment that expects practice. Practice is mindful, it is intentional, it is sacrificing speed for depth, and rejecting convenience for spiritual growth.
The fascinating thing is that true spiritual newborns (those new to the faith) are generally more eager to grow than those who have no business still being considered a "baby in the faith". New Christians often fulfill the admonishment in 1 Peter 2:2-3: " Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good." They haven't forgotten the taste of the Lord's goodness like so many who have been in "the way" for many years.
Lord, help us long for maturity. Give our leaders patience and endurance to help the faithful grow. Help us to not grow weary in well doing and to continually encourage one another to GROW DEEPER.
