“Then God did as he had promised, and Sarah became pregnant and gave Abraham a baby son in his old age, at the time God had said; and Abraham named him Isaac (meaning “Laughter!”)…. And Sarah declared, “God has brought me laughter! All who hear about this shall rejoice with me. For who would have dreamed that I would ever have a baby? Yet I have given Abraham a child in his old age!” Time went by and the child grew and was weaned; and Abraham gave a party to celebrate the happy occasion. “ Genesis 21:1- 8
Isaac was the promised child that Abraham and Sarah had waited for for so long. When Isaac was born Abraham and Sarah rejoiced and laughed, but later when he was weaned they threw a party.
Isaac is a picture of us Christians (The Children of Promise.) When we are saved, Angels rejoice in heaven, but when we are weaned from worldly, ‘stinking thinking,’ and all that ‘Egypt Stuff’ so to speak, God throws a party. It’s one thing to get saved, but it’s really something else to grow up. I have seen so many folk become Christians, yet they fall away for one reason or another. It appears they were not weaned from the things of the world and soon went back to Egypt (the World). I think it’s all to do with coming off the milk and starting on the solids, and has nothing to do with how old you are or how long you have been a Christian. There are many Christians around who are just like babies, immature and weak, only running on 2 cylinders yet they are meant to be running on 8.
A Baby Christian can be 40 years in the faith
When we had our first child, Adrian, my wife Bernice wanted to breast feed him but was having trouble giving milk. She thought maybe she should give it up and put Adrian on the bottle. I said NO! No son of mine will hit the bottle at that age - Lol.
I declared that we must claim that scripture that says that the blessing of the breast and the womb is hers in God. God answered our prayers and Bernice was soon able to continue feeding Adrian from the breast. I was over the moon about this for when he cried at night I didn’t have to get up and feed him. “Sorry Bern I can’t help.” Little did Bernice realise that this was my main reason why I claimed that promise in the Bible. Again Lol.
“Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarrelling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere human beings?” 1 Corinthians 3:1-4
“In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” Hebrews 5:12-14
These verses show us that God doesn’t want His children to stay as babies but grow up and come off the milk and onto solids. Paul prayed earnestly that Christ would be formed in the Church. This was a prayer for Christians and not for the world, as he wanted to see Christ formed in the Church. He wanted them to grow up.
What level are you on? Are you a babe or are you weaned? It doesn’t really matter how old you are either or how long you have been a Christian. Some of the most childish Christians I know have been 20 years in the faith.
In 1994 I really had a visitation from God over a period of a couple of months. One morning I had a trance or a vision where I found myself lifted up between heaven and earth by what seemed to be the hands of God. It was wonderful, but when I looked at myself in the Spirit I saw that I was just a baby. This really upset me for I thought I was a ‘Big Man of God’ (‘BMOG’). I felt God say to me that I was still a baby in my relationship with Him. I just treated Him like a slot machine, believing Him for things all the time and not loving Him for who He was, I was just using Him. Aren’t little children like that?
What level are you on today?
You may say “I don’t really care what level you are on as long as I get to heaven.” Or maybe you say, “You will leave off doing anything about it until a more convenient time.” It’s dangerous to be a baby Christian as you’re so vulnerable. Babies are OK when their parents are handy and everything is cosy, but when they[re on their own things can get dangerous. Babies are quite stupid and don’t know whats bad for them. They can’t fight wars, run for cover, take their inheritance or leave for another country on a mission.
We are now in the End Times when terrible times shall come. Matthew 24 says that it’s going to be hard for some pregnant mothers and mothers with babies in those days. Look at what happened with the Japanese Tsunami a few years ago. Some folk lost not only their homes but all their children, parents and relatives. How would you handle that? Would you still believe and trust in God if it affected you? A baby wouldn’t handle an experience like that for they need everything to be cosy in order to be happy.
Babies always want their food, lots of attention and cuddles. They get scared by the ‘Bogey Man’ and can seem quite miserable, for they seem to cry all the time; well that’s how it seems to us ‘Blokes’. Another thing is that babies have no discernment. Offer them a $50 note and a shiny button and they’ll take the shiny button every time (and then swallow it.) When I was child my mother said I ate a snail once and I’m not even a Frenchman. I said something about it being a ‘billa billa’.
When Bernice and I went to Bible College in South Africa we had our 1 year old baby Adrian with us. Brendan Munro was there too and he used to make some mean curries at our small flat in Johannesburg. The curries got ‘hotter and hotter’ as the weeks went by. The flat used to steam up, and on one occasion a couple of pictures fell off the wall. These curries could set a fire alarm off or melt your false teeth. One night Adrian wanted to have one of those lovely shiny green pepper things that I had on my plate. I said no, it will ‘bite you sore’, but he insisted. So as a loving Father I eventually said OK. Bernice wasn’t in the room at the time, by the way. He grabbed the pretty green pepper with glee, took one bite and his glee turned to ‘Eeeeeek’. I have changed somewhat since those days, but come to think of it Adrian has never really like curries since then either.
Baby Christians don’t have any discernment. They like all that glitters and is powerful over that which is needful. If it came to a choice over the Power of God or relationship and integrity, they so often go for the power to their own detriment.
I was not brought up around babies. In fact the first baby I can ever remember holding was at the young age of 24 and I was forced to by my sister as it was her baby human. I held him at a distance with arms outstretched in true ‘bloke’ fashion. I was a true Kiwi ‘Bloke’ in those days as we left all that sort of thing to the ‘Sheila’s’, that was their department. I had picked up cats and dogs, chooks, possums, hedgehogs, snakes, lion cubs and even an 8lb trout once (about the weight of a baby) and even picked up a few birds on a Friday night down town, but never a baby. I was a bloke! Blokes are a sort of a cross between ‘Crocodile Dundee’, Lumberjacks and Daniel Boone, and they all eat Viking food.
This baby thing was something I’d inherited from my dad who was the ‘Father of all Blokes’. I could never see him picking up a baby – God forbid. On the day I was born my dad was out fishing and drinking somewhere with his mates while mum did her ‘Sheila thing’ in the maternity ward -alone.
It apparently rubbed off on me (but not for long) when my wife was pregnant with Adrian. I was a bit of a ‘Space Cadet’ in those days and when the contractions started we rushed off to the hospital in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Nothing much happened for awhile and it was getting near 7.30 pm which was Prayer Meeting time at the local Church just down the road, so like a true ‘Space Cadet Bloke,’ I left her there alone in the hospital and told her to hang on until I got back. “Just keep it in.” This watching the baby being born wasn’t really a bloke thing anyway. My wife never did forgive me for that night and I can assure you that it never happened for the birth of our 2nd child Sean. No, I was there watching every move.
Babies look cute. You can dress them up and make them look like Bunny Rabbits and Pixies. They are so cute and eatable and cuddly in those brief moments when they are smiling and gurgling, but the main thing that sticks out to us Blokes is that babies – LEAK. Yes they leak at both ends. They dribble and vomit and get wet and leave lots of surprises.
In those early days in Zimbabwe ‘disposable nappies’ were very expensive. There were no ‘Huggies’ with super absorbent leak proof linings, with elastic, Velcro and little ‘Winnie the Pooh’ pictures all over them. There were only the true Bloke ones that I used to have as a baby; these were the ones that Jesus and John the Baptist used to wear - I’m sure. They were made out of something like canvas or camel skin (well that’s what they felt like) and you needed to be a Rocket Scientist to put them on a baby. Not only was it very difficult to put the safety pin in at the end of the procedure without puncturing the baby, but the folding of the nappy was a science which only Sheila’s seemed able to do well. It took me so long to go through this procedure that there needed to be another nappy change before I’d finished. I remember finally achieving it on my son Adrian one day and put him proudly on the floor to do his ‘baby thing’ and I go about my business. A few minutes later I saw Adrian crawling around the lounge naked with my master piece in a pile in the corner.
Then there was the ‘baby thing’ of getting ready for Church. You’d be all ‘kitted’ up with a clean jacket and tie and be handed the baby by the wife. As you sit there with him gurgling on your lap you suddenly felt this warm glow between your legs, and on lifting him up you see once more that he’s leaked. Then there’s the putting them on your shoulder and patting his back when they get ‘windies’. All seems fine until you later look in the mirror and see what’s been left on your shoulder. You look like you’ve been dive bombed by an angry seagull. You could always tell who was a new father in Church in those days as they smelled like they’d stood in something and had mysterious stains here and there on their clothes.
Spiritual babies leak too. They are all high on a Sunday but by Monday it’s all leaked out again. You just need to look at them the wrong way and they leak. When the Devil says “boo,” it happens all over again. They constantly need to be entertained and made happy. Another thing is they need everything to be cosy otherwise they throw all their toys out of the cot. They need constant attention and can’t be left alone for very long because they are unable to entertain themselves. They have no inner strength, for their strength all comes from outside stimuli.
The other thing that Blokes notice about babies is that they CRY. In fact they always seem to be crying because they are always hungry, lonely, and hurting from ‘windies’, ‘toothies’ or the result of a bump. You just have to watch America’s Funniest Videos and you’ll see what I mean. You have to constantly pamper babies otherwise they cry and always seem to be unhappy about something.
Baby Christians are like this too as they are always moaning and unhappy about their situation; it can be about the Pastor through to the food put before them at the Church Lunch. Babies always dislike their food. This attitude is nothing new as Moses had this problem with the Children of Israel in the Wilderness. As soon as they crossed the Red Sea they were moaning because there was no water, then no food, then no meat. Many never entered into Canaan Land because of this ‘baby’ attitude. The trouble is with babies is that they don’t trust what has been told them. You can say, “Just hang on, the milk will be here in 5 minutes,” but this means nothing to them and you still get a “Waaaaa,” response. Baby Christians want instant gratification as well and don’t trust the promises of God, only instant gratification.
Baby Christians need to be weaned like Isaac. Weaned from the props, cosy situations and dummies of a baby and begin to trust in Christ – the Christ within. They need to stop moaning and start praising, not just when things are going well but when it gets scary and God seems no where to be seen. He is there though as a loving Heavenly Father.
Remember when your child was learning to ride a bike? For quite awhile you walked beside them to hold them up as they pedalled away. This couldn’t go on forever as the child needed to do it on their own. Then one day you let them go off on their own and they didn’t realise it until they looked behind – and then fell off. This is how it is with us and God. He wants to wean us off the feelings and props of the world and learn to walk by faith.
When you say to some people, “How are you?” they say, “Well funny you should ask,” and then you get a long string of things that are going wrong for them from past operations to recent accidents. They give you an ‘organ’ recital.
There was a lady in my Church in London who was a great encouragement to many. She was in a wheel chair and struggled to walk, but whenever you speak to her she is very positive and rarely has a ‘Bad Hair Day’ that you would notice. She has been to Israel often in this condition and other countries around the world. Babies can’t do that. It’s praise that makes you powerful and enables you to do so much more for God.
“All the days of the oppressed are wretched, but the cheerful heart has a continual feast.” Proverbs 15:15
Isaac had a feast organised for him when he was weaned and a weaned Christian can have a continual party too. They become ‘Party Animals.’ Life is a continual feast for them even in the difficult times. They don’t see a glass as ‘half empty’ they see it as ‘half full’. Everything is an opportunity to praise God.
I read once of a dream, where a man saw Jesus approach three praying women. He knelt beside the first with great tenderness and love. At the second, He simply placed His hand on her head and gave her a look of approval. He passed by the third without even stopping. Sensing the man's bewilderment, Jesus explained, "Without constant assurance the first woman would stumble and fall. The second woman's faith is stronger; I can count on her. The third, however, is being trained for the highest calling of all. She knows me so intimately that she doesn't need signs of my approval. No circumstance discourages her because she knows that ultimately, she can trust me."
God wants mature people like this. Those He can train up to be in His End Time Army, those who are not ‘Babies’ but ‘Warriors’. Those who can take the good and the bad and whose faith is not affected by apparent rejection. Babies throw their toys out of the cot when God seems to have forsaken them.
I remember taking my son Sean to the Squash Club’s ‘Open Night’ where you play all sorts of different people. On the way there I prayed and asked God to protect us as we played. In the first game someone whacked my hand with the side of his racket and I flinched with pain, but declared my confidence in God. In the next game someone hit a squash ball square into my ear, “Owee!” To a baby Christian this would be a sign that God is upset with them and they have done something wrong. When I asked God about it later I felt Him say, “If you hadn’t prayed you would have a broken hand right now and would have got a ball in your eye, as the Devil is gunning for you.”
Our carnal thinking in regards to Christians, is that mature ones are those who have finally conquered smoking, drinking, joking, sport, newspapers, modern music and watching movies. They are always busy for God and never miss a meeting. This is a false holiness that is all based on outward appearances and doings. I have seen many who have been like this who tried harder and harder to be ‘holy,’ only to fall away and go in the complete opposite direction after awhile. The trouble is that this is not the kind of holiness that God is looking for. It’s really hard to do things in your own strength over a long period of time. True holiness is something that goes on in the heart.
True holiness is identifying yourself with what Jesus has done for you already on the cross. Holiness does mean separation, but not necessarily from be involved in the world. Monks and Nuns did that in the Dark Ages and had little influence on the common man around them.
Jesus was really holy yet mixed with the worldly people like Sinners, Harlots and Publicans. He even drank wine (without getting drunk) and broke the Sabbath on occasions to help people. What God is looking for in a Mature Christian is someone who is in love with Jesus and has received His gift of Righteousness. Someone who is ‘Christ Conscious’ all the time instead of being ‘Sin Conscious.’ For it’s being ‘Christ Conscious’ that changes us to be more like Jesus. Paul said this in 1 Corinthians 3:18
“But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
We are changed by beholding His glory and not by beholding sin. We are told to confess our sins to God then believe He has forgiven us and move forward. The best way to be separated from the world is to be more ‘Christ Conscious’ filling our thought life with the promises of God. Its by the promises that we partake of the divine nature.
“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” 2 Peter 1:3-4
God wants us to have a continual feast even in the hard times, with a table set before us in the midst of our enemies. We need to be weaned from those things that are hindering. Those ‘nappies and dummies’ that babies need and those carnal desires that harm them. Let us go on to maturity and leave behind childish things.
“When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.” 1 Corinthians 13:11