Day 79, Year 1

Two Different Principles

“When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.” (1 Corinthians 13:11 NASB)

The “reason” in today’s verse, logizomai in Greek, has three meanings: to calculate, or reckon; to deliberate, count up, or weigh the reasons; and, to meditate, judge, or decide. This word primarily refers to rational thinking and judgment. However, the direction of children’s thoughts is easily influenced by their mood or emotions, as mentioned, and their arguments are often weak and relatively simple. Hence, they are easily deceived. Today’s verse points out that when Paul grew into an adult, he put away childish things. “Man” is aner in Greek and could be translated as “husband,” here it refers to an adult older than a youth.

For Paul, when a person grows into an adult, they need to put away the way and inclination of childish thinking. As children grow up, they need to learn about the adults’ world and related mentality and gradually put away the mental programming of a child. Today’s verse which mentions a child’s language, emotional thinking, reasons, and decision-making patterns, is probably inviting believers to contemplate those of an adult, and mainly on how these should be influenced and changed by God’s words. For example, children would face numerous problems they cannot solve, so they might adopt an avoidance strategy to set them aside. But when we know the Bible, believe in God’s words, and obey the One who always helps us, the habit of escapism should be discarded. We would no longer be overwhelmed by different problems because He is our Helper who is greater than all problems, and grants us wisdom and power to solve them. Thus, the gospel calls us to believe in Jesus so that He teaches us to face and resolve difficulties step by step by His grace, enabling us to grow into adulthood. After all, God is constantly calling people to grow and break through the past limits.

Learning the new and unlearning the old is always the key to our transformation and growth. However, sometimes the old is too entrenched, we need to throw away the old as much as possible and then learn the new. One key is that if people think everything about children is good, they often lack the motivation to change. In other words, we need to change our evaluation of the whole children’s world through the lens of God’s words. Meanwhile, the mentality of sentimental yearning for the happiness felt in a former place, time, people, or situation is a serious hindering problem that we should get rid of.

Reflection questions:

1) Do you think you are easily deceived? If so, what methods could you adopt to avoid being deceived again?

2) Do you feel God is encouraging you to grow and change? If so, in what areas do you need to grow recently?