This is my favorite little man in the whole world. His name is Steven and he is 5 months old. He is my cousin, and he has brought so much joy to my heart!
It's hard to believe that a little baby could teach us so much about life, but he has taught me a lot in his 5 months.
The thing that touches me the most about this little child is his innocence. He looks into the eyes of those caring for him with complete trust. He is dependent for everything in his life right now.
As he grows, he is getting more independent. He can roll over by himself now, and he can almost hold his bottle by himself. He laughs all of the time (well, except when he's hungry and man, has that kid got some lungs!).
He will continue to grow and learn to do things on his own; and as his independence increases, he will not need those around him to do things for him like he needs us to now. I can already hear him in my mind say "I can do it myself!". He will think he doesn't need us anymore.
Don't we treat God that way at times?
When we come to Christ as a baby Christian, we become dependent on the "milk" of the Gospel. It feeds us and nourishes us, and as we grow, we move from "milk" to "meat". Sometimes, meat gets a little hard to chew...and we want to spit it out and move back to the "milk" that's easier to swallow. But when you grow up, you can't live on milk like you did when you were a baby; you have to eat "meat" to survive. Your diet must consist of something with substance; so your spiritual life must grow on the meat of the Gospel - the substance of it allowing you to live in Christ.
Our independence also gets in the way as we grow - we feel we become "self-sufficient" and tend to look at God and say, "I can do it myself!".
But we can't. John the Baptist knew this and said, "He must increase but I must decrease" (John 3:30). The Christian life seems a little backwards to those who don't know Jesus - as we grow, we "decrease" and allow Him to live through us. We become less dependent on the world and on ourselves, and more dependent on Him.
God's goal is to make us more like His Son. We need to move out of the way and let Him do His work in us. Jesus tells us in Mark 10:13-16:
13And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them.
14But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.
15Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.
16And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them.
We need to come to Jesus with the innocence of a child - with complete trust and dependence on Him for everything. And as God grows us to be more like His Son, we need to allow that trust and dependence to grow.
I don't know about you guys, but I'm tired of saying, "I can do it myself".
It's just what's on my mind.
