Mature Thinking
Be babes in evil, but in thinking be mature. (I Cor. 14:20)
I Cor. 14:6-20; I Cor 13:11; Eph 4:12-15; I Pet. 2:2
What Is God Saying?
This portion of God's Word brings us into the center of an old controversy. It is still a source of division and misunderstanding among earnest Christians. Paul does not deny the gift of speaking in tongues as valid evidence of the Holy Spirit's presence and power. It is a way of speaking to God and sensing the glow of spiritual well-being as one "utters mysteries" in the Spirit. Other Christians have just as full and rich an experience of Christ and the blessings of His Spirit without ever speaking in tongues. Paul stresses here that their gift of preaching in understandable words and living a life of Christ-inspired love may be a better gift. In I Cor. 12:31, he clearly says, "But earnestly desire the higher gifts, and I will show you a still more excellent way." Then there follows the greatest passage on agape love ever written, I Cor. 13.
Now, in this 14th chapter, He stresses again the superior gift of speaking words that make sense to others and that those who are mature m Christ do not attach so much importance to the possession of the spectacular manifestations of the Spirit as they do to building up the Church (I Cor. 14: 12). He concludes by saying, "I thank God that I speak in tongues more than you all; nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind, to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue." He calls this contention about peripheral differences childish (I Cor. 14:20). We must move on to maturity in our thinking.
How Does This Apply To Us?
This heated debate in the Corinthian Church was centered around the place of tongues in the Christian community. Now Paul writes something that is much more general in its application. As we look to God for guidance through the writings of Paul, we learn that Christians can be childish (not childlike; what a vast difference there is between childish and childlike!) about many things m which they should be mature and they can be mature about some things in which they should still be as children.
Evil is one such thing. When it comes to evil we ought to be as babes This simply means that we are to be more aware of what is good and beautiful and true and give no quarter to what is evil. It is not that, with childlike innocence, we don't know that evil exists or what evil can do. It is just that as childlike innocence does not give any thought or time to what is evil, so when our thinking matures, we give our best energies to what is constructive and none to what is destructive.
Mature in thinking, we accentuate the positive commandments of God. We give priority to God's will. We emphasize the purity of God's love, received and shared. In other words, we grow up in the things that count in His kingdom. We discard the things in life that do not count for God, as a child has no more use for a broken and outgrown toy. Pray for discernment. Pray for the power to discard all evil and grow up to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Eph. 4: 13).
Pray With Me
Like a Father, with loving firmness, Lord, You intend to bring me to a mature faith. I thank You for Your patience in this long and difficult task. I especially ask for Your forgiveness as I seem determined to repay evil for evil. In this, I am quite mature. I am skillful at vindicating myself. I am quick to repay in kind the slightest injury to pride. I am alert in the defense of my prejudices. I am insensitive to the offenses I give and very keen to feel the offenses I receive.
0 Lord of Calvary, may I learn to see and to feel and to react in the spirit that was Yours upon the Cross. There You repaid evil with good, anger with love, injustice with mercy, and offense with forgiveness. Through Your example there and through the grace that always comes from the fountain of Your suffering love, help me to be understanding. Let this be my constant prayer: "He must increase, I must decrease." Let that be my prayer. I have often read it. I have often said it. But have I understood it? Have I meant it? When I can say that prayer and mean it, I will no longer be mature in evil, and childish in thinking and understanding. Instead, as Your image is formed in me, I shall have the quiet strength and joyful service which belong to those who are mature in thinking and who, in evil, have neither skill nor desire.
In the name of Him who is all understanding and no malice. Amen.
Moving On In The Life Of Prayer
Prayer grows in power as we become more mature in Christ. "Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the Head, into Christ" (Eph. 4: 15). That is the way to communicate with others. It is also the way to communicate with God. Let Him know that we know the truth about ourselves. Then trust His love to bring us to ever fuller maturity in life and the life of prayer.
