Equip: How to grow up

When I was a kid … no, I’m not going to tell you I wished I were an adult. In fact, I was sort of the opposite.

As challenging as some parts of my childhood were, I still enjoyed some of the finer things of boyhood.

For a while, I wrestled with guilt over that. Not because these things were inherently sinful, but because I assumed being a man of God meant I had to outgrow everything that looked remotely fun or childlike.

When I heard 1 Corinthians 13 in church, the part of that chapter that concerned me the most was “… but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”

To me, that signaled the Lord wanted me one day to trash my comic books, cut the cords on my video game console and be an adult … whatever that meant to me at the time.

But years of Sunday school, Bible study and hearing solid preaching taught me I wasn’t quite right in my interpretation of the text.

When I re-read 1 Corinthians 13, I realize putting away childish things is, in fact, the result of God’s love in my life.

Unpacking 1 Corinthians 13

If I can speak “with the tongues of men and of angels” but don’t have love, I’m just making a whole lot of noise.

If I have a ton of gifts that can be useful to the kingdom of God—like the gift of prophecy, understanding all mysteries and knowledge, having all faith—but not love, I am nothing.

If I feed the poor, give my body to be burned, but don’t have love, there is nothing about those acts of kindness that profits me.

As I get older, 1 Corinthians 13 helps me be more intentional in my faith walk and in my maturity in Christ.

I learned the gifts mentioned at the beginning of this passage were meant to move the church from a state of infancy to adulthood, to maturity or to have “perfection.”

Paul’s writing on love between verses 4 and 8 are not just memory verses for me to reflect on as a husband to my wife, but as a Christian man.

My goal is to grow up in Christ with a love that suffers long, is kind, is not envious nor prideful nor rude, is not provocative and has no thought of evil or joy over injustice, but instead rejoices in truth.

It’s the kind of love that bears, believes, hopes and endures all things.

The text makes me reflect on how God loves us so much, and his transformative love that sent his son Jesus to die for us should impact the way I live every day.

I’m less likely to post a ridiculously rude comment on my social media pages. I’m less likely to lose myself emotionally even when I feel passionate about a matter.

I realize there are a ton of things I can do in this life and still miss the mark if the love of God is not top of mind and in my heart.

Keep living

If I had to toss out my comic books because the Lord said so, no problem. If I had to get rid of the game console, then so long Nintendo Switch.

Hopefully not anytime too soon. But I am prepared should such an order be made.

As I have had many tell me, “I haven’t arrived yet.” And to be honest, none of us has.

I can only say that now because Jesus is, in fact, the most important person to me.

I suppose some of the older individuals in my life who told me to “keep living” were right.

As a kid, I naturally didn’t understand everything going on in my life. But, just as 1 Corinthians 13:12 says, “I shall know just as I am also known.”

Tossing out and getting rid of that which keeps us from the Lord is one thing. But his love for us should motivate us to toss out pride, envy, selfishness and bitterness. Those truly are the childish things that don’t belong in a spiritually mature life.

Kendall Lyons, news reporter for the Baptist Standard, is a writer, minister and cartoonist who publishes on his Substack page Kendall’s Comics. He is also the illustrator of Your Identity in Christ: Finding Who You Are in Who He Is by David Sanchez. The views expressed in this resource article are those of the author.