Quit being childish

1 Corinthians 13:11-12 (NLT)
11 When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. 12 Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Church of Corinth about love and the importance of it. The church was focused on too many other things and the apostle wanted to get them on the right track. One of Paul’s most well-known statements to the church which comes from this chapter is: “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.” Then Paul reminds them as a child we think as a child, but one hopes to mature and put away the childish thoughts. It was his hope they would grow up and see the important need for love.

I am sure you have heard the phrase, “QUIT BEING CHILDISH”. People often say it during the midst of an argument from one adult to another when one adult sees the other responding in a childish manner. Truthfully there are times some of us do respond like a child because we never got past a hurt in our lives. The love and nurturing we needed was missed, which left us stuck with childish thoughts. We did not learn how to express ourselves clearly and hence our response is very childish in nature. I was reminded of our need to be loved and nurtured as I watched Dr. Drew’s Celebrity Rehab. One of the celebrities being treated for addiction had painful memories of the past flash back into their mind. They said it made the feel small, helpless and like a child. The thing is as adults we are no longer children and we must assume the responsibilities of an adult. We have an imperfect vision of our lives because of our hurts and pains. The cloudy mirror we look into shows us pains and hurts of our childhood past. We feel incomplete and just a partial piece of what we should be. We need the love for ourselves, the love from others and the love of God to see us through to difficult times. We need to move past our childish thoughts and mature in the way we handle problems. Allow God and others to work in your life so that you might become complete as God has intended for you to be.