Daily Devotional For Saturday, September 13, 2025
Good morning friends. Hope your day will be a great one. Growing up and maturing is all part of life. As adults, we look back on our childhood and youth with bewilderment in terms of what we thought was so important. It really was childish immaturity. We really thought we knew better and yet, life has a way of helping us see that we do not. Look at what the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 13:11, “When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things” (NLT).
As children, we spoke and we acted like children. We had the mentality of children and nothing more. We were silly. We giggled alot. We played a lot. We didn’t see the world as evil and demonic. We trusted people and we believed that adults told us the truth. Yes, we had a rebellious sin nature, but we looked at life and the world through a whole different lens. If you were raised in church like myself, you trusted and believed in God. You took God at His word. If and when bad things did happen and evil seemed to get the upper hand, we processed it differently then than we do now.
Think about this for a moment. What would your parents think if after you were born you never aged, you never grew up, you never developed beyond an infant. That would be hard on your parents and unfair to you. Yet, so many Christians never mature in their faith. They know no more now than when they got saved. They have not grown in their faith or relationship to God. For all practical purposes, they are still infants or baby Christians. Don’t you think that is unfair to God and unloving of them.
Many Christians today know more sport stats or Wall Street stats or secular music lyrics than they do Scripture. Yet, these same people would say they believe the Bible is the inerrant, infallible and inspired word of God. They would say they love the Lord. You can’t really love someone you do not know. How would you feel if after 12 years of public education you still had only the educational level of a kindergartner? You would think something was wrong and the truth is, that is many Christians spiritually. If you were a parent and raised a child in 12 years of schooling and when they finished, they only had a first grade level maturity, that parent would be alarmed, embarrassed and angry.
Our Lord desperately wants us to have a relationship with Him and to grow in our personal intimacy with Him and His Word. How do you think He feels after saving someone and for the rest of his/her natural life, they never grow spiritually? Let’s say they go to church. They might even serve in the church, but when it comes to knowing the Lord and His word, they are spiritually illiterate. When a child talks, he/she talks like a child. When that child grows up and becomes an adult, he/she talks like an adult. Everything a child does is from a child’s perspective.
Assignment: We are 3.5 months away from 2026. Make it your goal to grow in your relationship with the Lord. Make it your goal to grow in your knowledge of God’s Word. If you already have a plan that is helping you in these areas, where do you need to grow in obedience to the Lord? Where are you weak and vulnerable spiritually? Get a plan to eliminate this.
Scripture To Meditate On: 1 Corinthians 14:20, “Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature” (ESV).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, please help me to mature in my faith and relationship to You. I do not want to be a spiritual infant. I want to be mature and honor You with my life. Please forgive me when I am lazy and do not push myself to mature for You. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly