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By Roger A. Scully, Jr.
patience and understanding. We learn that certain things cannot be helped, such as waking at all hours of the night
for feeding and changing diapers. We take special care in the formula we use, the environment in which we place
our little ones, and the things to which they are exposed. As they grow we are patient with them as they learn to
walk, begin to eat solid foods, and the most difficult act of all, potty training. We watch our children grow with joy,
continually loving them, helping them to correct their mistakes, making sure they are growing properly and being
incredibly patient as they learn the manners of life. Sometimes we cry, most times we laugh, we often get excited, but
through it all we know that life is not easy and that the process of growth is a long one. Christianity, dear reader, is
no different.
Jesus explains entering the family of God as being a new birth in John 3.3-5. Christians are born of water and the
Spirit. Seeing as how the only Christian rite using water is baptism, then we can easily determine that the new birth
about which Jesus speaks being of water is baptism for the remission of sins (cf. Rom 3.3, 4; Ac 2.38). Being born of
the Spirit speaks of complying with the Spirits revealed terms. Now, the Spirit has revealed the word to us (1 Cor 2.9-
13; Eph 3.3, 4). Jesus says we are born of the Spirit (Jn 3.5). Peter writes that we are “born again…by the word of
God” (1 Pet 1.23). Thus it becomes clear that the Spirit, by means of the word, begets Christians when they comply
with the terms therein revealed being baptized into the family of God (Ac 2.41, 47).
When one is born again he is described as being a “babe” in Christ (Heb 5.13; 1 Pet 2.2). The process has
begun. It is now time to begin this growth process. A Christian’s growth process is guided by His Father, through the
pattern of His word (Heb 8.5; 2 Tim 3.16, 17). Our Father, then, watches with patience as we grow into adulthood,
realizing the difficulties we face, and the present need to be loved and chastened, “for whom the Lord loveth he
chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth” (Heb 12.6).
As we grow we fall, “for all have sinned” (Rom 3.23; cf. 1 Jn 1.8), but we get up, wipe the dust from our body, and
continue the press forward “walking in the light” (1 Jn 1.7, 9). Sometimes we make mistakes, sometimes we cause
heartbreak, and other times we simply act stubborn, yet through it all we are not separated from the love of God, or
from the love of our brothers and sisters (Rom 8.35, 39). Finally, after many struggles and discouragements we
become “of full age” are able to eat “strong meat” (Heb 5.14). It is then that we look to our “younger” brothers and
sisters, those who are but babes, and with patience help them grow, laughing with them, crying with them, and even
becoming aggravated with them. But we remember that we ourselves were once but babes, in need of milk, and
even now, as those who are full grown, we still make mistakes and are in need of being chastised.
So, the next time you see your brethren falling short of God’s glory, remember the weakness of their flesh,
remember the patience and love that has expressed toward us, remember your struggles through this burdensome
life, and, above all, remember that we are to help one another, not despise, reject and shun one another. Sure,
there are times when the withdrawal of fellowship is necessary (Eph 5.11; 2 Thess 3.6; 1 Cor 5), but this is not that
about which I am writing. I am writing about our brothers and sisters, who are trying to be faithful with each step, yet
are often hindered by the bumps in the road. Remember, “God commandeth his love toward us, in that, while we
were yet sinners, Christ died for us…being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him”
(Rom 5.8, 9).
