Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. – I Peter 2:1-5
I can still remember my mom explaining a mystery ache in my body with these words, “you’re having growing pains; it will pass.” I’ve recently heard colleagues explaining some of our COVID prevention strategies as “growing pains” while we continue learning new ways to do life and live with the virus. “Growing pains” seems to be a persistent theme.
Growing in up in our salvation has growing pains too. There are seasons of doubt and suffering. There are moments are sharp joy and revelation. We stumble when we forget to let light shine in where darkness has entered. And sometimes we just crawl our way through one day at a time, a few inches at a time.
Still, we are being built into a spiritual house; we are growing and maturing through all of these seasons and moments. Talk to someone in their 90’s who has been walking with Christ for many years and they will quickly tell you: the growing never stops. The pains of a season will cease and the challenges we face in our journey today will fade. We mature and grow. New stretching and learning will be required, but something miraculous keeps unfolding. The Scriptures are full of stories about ordinary human beings slowly growing into living stones, that are part of a spiritual house…a holy priesthood that the Lord is maturing. That means you too.
There is a quote by Teresa of Avila that I kept on my dashboard during a long season of growing pains. It helped me every day.
Let nothing disturb you
Let nothing frighten you
All things pass
God does not change
Patience achieves everything.
– Teresa of Avila (1518-1582)
God, thank you for your grace in not giving up on us. Thank you for continuing to teach us and grow us up so we reflect more and more the person you created us to be. We trust you, our Creator and Savior, to keep building us into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood. Amen.
Caleb + Kelsey Mashup
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oHN1-ifsT8
Life in the Deep End 