Most Christians can agree that God wants us to grow up spiritually.

Just like in the natural we are born babies. When we are born again we start out as a baby Christian. Below are some characteristics of natural babies that parallel with baby Christians.

1.     Babies cry a lot: When they are hungry they cry. When they want attention they cry. When they need changed they cry. Just about everything they want they cry. Baby Christians cry a lot also. They are ruled by their emotions and feelings instead of letting the word of God dictate how they feel. If pastor does not shake their hand, they cry. If the sermon steps on their toes, they cry. If someone looks at them funny, they cry.

2.     Babies have to be spoon fed: just like natural babies cannot feed themselves spiritual babies have to be spoon fed also. They have not learned how to read the bible for themselves. They have to rely on pastor to spoon feed them on Sunday morning instead of getting into the word for themselves all week.

3.     Babies eat everything they get their hands on: When a baby finds money on the floor they put it in their mouth. When they pick up their toys it goes straight in their mouths. Everything goes straight in the mouth. Some babies have even picked up rotten food or poison and put it in their mouth and have become very sick or died. Spiritual babies do the same. They do not know the truth from a lie. They might hear a preacher on the radio that is preaching false doctrine or half truths and accept it into their lives and become spiritually sick or might even backslide.

4.     Babies get into trouble a lot: They do things that adults know not to do like put their hand on a hot stove or jump head first out of their crib. Baby Christians do things that more mature Christians would never do. Sometimes they fall into sins that people look at them and say, “How could they do that?” I thought they were a Christian now. They did it because they are still a baby Christian and, they have not grown in that area yet.

Below is a video that adds some humor to this subject.

 
If God wants us to grow then, how do we measure our growth?

Just like in the natural there must be a way to measure our growth.

 Eph 4:13-16 Says

13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Or simply put in Jerry Moyer translation in Kid language:

Eph. 4: 13 We must grow up until we look like Jesus.

Christian Means Christ like!

If we are to grow up until we look like Jesus, then what does Jesus look like?

We asked some children in Dodge City, KS what they thought Jesus looked like. Their answers are in the video below.

I am not talking about physically. I am talking about Nature or Character.

What is Character? Character is how we think and act toward others. 

The Dictionary says the following about Character:

     1.       The real Character of a person: It's not in her nature to be mean.

     2.       Temperament: Disposition; It's not in his character to act that way.

     3.       The real appearance or aspect of a person. How we really act when 

               all their guards are down,

Our real character will come out eventually, when enough pressure is applied.

It's just like buying a nice piece of furniture made of wood. It can look really nice on the outside with a nice finish on it. But, when we apply pressure to it by sitting on it, or hopping up and down on it we will find out the true nature of the wood. Is the piece of furniture made of solid oak or particle board? The nature of the wood will come out when pressure is applied.

What does the bible say about Jesus character or nature?

The Bible says in 1 john 4:8 that God is Love.

A lot of times we have a warped view of love because of the emphasis the world puts on love.

A lot of times when we say to someone, "I Love You" we mean, we love the way they make us feel. For example, when a young man looks at his girlfriend and says, “OH baby, I love you!” He is really meaning he loves the way she makes him feel. If she was in a car crash and she could no longer walk or talk and her beauty was taken away, would the young man still love her and care for her. True love would!

Or when we look at a little baby and we say, "Oh, how I just love that little baby." What we mean is we love the mushy gushy feeling we get from looking at that cute little baby. The true test of whether we love that baby is when it has soiled its diaper or when it throws up all over us.

Do we immediately hand it back to the mother, or do we love it enough to tend to it before we take care for ourselves.

Let's look at the scripture below to find out God’s definition of Love.

1 Cor 13:4-7 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not selfish, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

In John 14:9 Jesus says if you have seen me you have seen the father.

In other words Jesus and the father look alike. If God is love and Jesus looks like the father, than Jesus’ character and nature must also be love.

If we are to grow up until we look like Jesus and his character is Love, then the world should be able to look at Christians and see Love!

John 1:35 says by this will all men know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

And 1 John 3:14 says we know that we have passed from death unto life because we Love our brothers.

The fruit or proof that we are Christians is Love.
 

Have you ever heard anyone say, “That kid acts just like his father?”
It's because we have our natural father's nature or character.

If we are God's child we should have his character or nature also.

When we are born again we receive Gods nature.

Romans 5:5 says, the love of God has been put in our heart by the Holy Spirit.

2 Peter 1:3 says, God has given us everything we need for life and Godliness.

What is Godliness?

Godliness is having God like qualities.

So, why don't all Christians look and act like Jesus?

They have not allowed the change in their hearts to affect their thoughts and actions. It’s up to us to let the change on the inside affect our minds and body's.

It's just like a sports fan that wears his favorite team's jersey all the time. Does this mean he is on the team? No, he does not go to practice, he does not work out with the team, and he is not committed to being everywhere the team is. He just watches the games and wears the jersey. A lot of Christians wear the Christian jersey, but they do not resemble Jesus.

How do we get what God’s has done in our heart to effect our thoughts and actions?

Romans 12:2 says, that we must be transformed by the renewing of our minds.

Transformed into what?

The image of Jesus!

The Bible says in 2 Peter 1:4

God has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them we might partake of the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

 
We transform ourselves into the image of Jesus by renewing our minds with God’s word. That's where we find these great and precious promises that help us to become partakers of his divine nature.

Gods Word,
The Bible!

Do we think and act like Jesus or the world?

Do we think about people the way Jesus thinks about people?

Do we treat people the way Jesus would treat people?

We need to truly grow up until we look like Jesus, so the world can see him through us!