Reflections on 1 Corinthians 3:1
“Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly – mere infants in Christ.” (1 Corinthians 3:1, NIV)
Paul has just told the Corinthians the most wonderful thing: “we have the mind of Christ.” And then, in the very next breath, he says he couldn’t talk to them that way. Knox says they were “little children in Christ’s nursery.” The Remedy, by Dr. Tim Jennings of Come and Reason Ministries, calls them “people who are just starting God’s treatment plan, newborn babies in Christ.”
The mind of Christ was theirs for the taking. They simply hadn’t grown into it.
There is nothing wrong with being a baby. Every one of us begins there. The trouble comes when we stay.
We grow through personal experience. We must taste and see that God is good (Psalm 34:8), and experience Him daily for ourselves. God is faithful. It is we who hold onto our old bad habits, so afraid the new life in Christ will lack all that makes life worth living. We refuse to surrender the habits and comforts that are destroying us. We refuse to allow the healing to happen. We are used to how things are, and we don’t want to apply ourselves to change.
As we accept the healing from Christ, and surrender our long-held, comforting habits for better things, our minds become more in tune with the mind of Christ. To have the mind of Christ, we must grow up into mature Christians who can understand the things of God. Paul is explaining that he cannot address the Corinthians as mature Christians. They are not yet able to understand themselves, much less the things needed to care for and nurture someone else.
That last leap of faith must come before maturity can begin. It comes when you decide that, regardless of the cost, this is what you want. You let go of your hold on all the things binding you to this earth and reach up for the hand of Christ, only to find He already has you held firmly and safely in His care.
In 1996, the Lord called me from my steady job to an unknown life across the country. I stepped out on thin air, with no job prospects, just the understanding in my heart and the peace that comes from knowing I was following where the Lord was leading. Since that choice, we have never wanted for anything needful for this life. He has proven to me over and over that thin air is very solid when He is standing in it with you.
The change is wonderful. Life with Christ is the most fulfilling, rewarding, stimulating life one could ever imagine. The reward for healing is beyond anything you can imagine.
So what are you holding onto that you’re afraid to let go?
