Focus: Childish Things (Pt.2)

Text: 1Cor.13:11

"When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away CHILDISH THINGS."

In 1Cor.3:1-4, Paul associates 'childish things' with 'carnal,' and as opposed to 'spiritual.' Childish or carnal Christians have God's Spirit living in them, but they hardly yield to His guidance or authority. He resides in them; yet, they do not let Him preside over them. He is largely ignored.

Israel's behavior in the desert is a beautiful illustration of childishness in a Christian. Stephen, in Act.7, describes Israel as "the church in the wilderness." The psalmist says, "When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language; Judah was his SANCTUARY, and Israel his DOMINION" (Ps.114:1-2). They marched out of Egypt into the desert as God's dwelling place and realm of rule. Israel was God's jurisdiction. Moses says of Israel, "For thou art an HOLY people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath CHOSEN thee to be a PECULIAR people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth" (Dt.14:2). In Dt.26:18, Moses says again, "And the LORD hath avouched thee this day to be his PECULIAR people, as he hath promised thee…" This was how God esteemed them, but in the wilderness they fell short of these descriptions. They behaved so childishly and carnally. The spirit of unbelief reigned in their hearts. Every step of the way they took God for granted and failed to trust Him. The writer of Hebrews says that "the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it" (Heb.4:2).

Israel became too much of a burden to Moses. Moses says to God, "Have I conceived all this people? have I begotten them, that thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father beareth the sucking child, unto the land which thou swarest unto their fathers?" (Num.11:12). They were infants who refused to grow up. It was not long after they left Egypt that they manifested their deep spiritual poverty. Moses wrote, "And the mixt multitude that was among them fell a LUSTING: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?" (Num.11:4). What were they dying to eat? "We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick" (Num.11:5). Israel longed for what they had no opportunity to taste right there in the desert. They so longed for ordinary food as if they couldn't survive without them. 

Satan deceives us into believing that we can't do without some things.

Israel remembered the food they ate in Egypt, but forgot the bondage, the killing of their male children at birth, the forced labor, the anguish, the harsh working conditions, and all the misery that Pharaoh caused them. They could remember Egypt, but couldn't bring themselves to think of the land of promise, Canaan - "the land that flows with milk and honey." Tell me, when they eventually get to Canaan, would they not find garlick, onions, melon, cucumber and leeks in Canaan? These food items did not grow only on Egyptian soil. Egypt had no monopoly over them. Israel forgot that the desert was neither their farmland nor their homeland. They were only passing through it. They didn't know the gain of contentment. They were never content with God's provisions. Moses wrote, "And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul LOATHETH this light bread" (Num.21:5). They abhorred the food from God's kitchen. They got sick and tired of it, and detested it completely.

Just before Moses passed on, he says to Israel, "But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he FORSOOK God which made him, and LIGHTLY ESTEEMED the Rock of his salvation" (Dt.32:15).

What a church in the wilderness! What a people! What an infantile bunch! Israel behaved and acted childishly and carnally. No spirituality. No maturity. They were addicted to milk and had no desire to graduate from the kindergarten school. The Scripture says, "For every one that useth MILK is UNSKILFUL in the word of righteousness: for he is a BABE" (Heb.5:13).

The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Man shall live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord, not by bread alone. Let us develop our appetite for God and His word! Let us taste and see that the Lord is good and gracious! Let us grow up! Let us render inoperative this ugly spiritual childishness, and set our mind on growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ! Seek God afresh! Spend time alone with God! Pray and fast, and repent of your sins, and drop the childish things that hinder spiritual growth and maturity! Amen!

by Bishop Moses E. Peter