Miles McNair

I have three children, a 13-year-old, a 10-year-old and now a 2-month-old. The oldest are girls, the youngest a boy and guess what? They are all different. They are different in temperament, ability, and a myriad of other ways that I don’t have space to fit here, and this is OK. Not only is it OK, it is great because it is wonderful to watch them grow and develop intellectually, socially and physically. Now as you can imagine, the oldest one is farther along in many aspects than the other two — for crying out loud she is smarter than I am — but the middle child is more athletic than the eldest, while the boy, well he just lies around, eats and hollers at us. It’s a wide range of abilities to say the least and that is just like our churches if we think about it.

When we look out among the fellowship of believers who gather together on a Sunday morning we have a wide swath of development. Some brothers and sisters have a lot of things figured out. Some are just trying to muscle through it, and some, well they just lie around and holler. The Bible teaches us that some need to have milk while others can eat the meat of the word. It says those who are older and more mature in the faith are to be building up those who are younger and new to the faith. Just go read Titus, there is a whole plan outlined there with teaching points. How does a 2-month-old grow? Well they get fed and nurtured in the faith. How does the 13-year-old continue to develop? They get fed more and are expected to exercise what they have been taught. We all know this, but the question is are you doing it? Are you being discipled? Are you disciplining someone? If you answered no to either of these questions, fix it. We are to make disciples and in order for that, you need to be a disciple. Are you a disciple? If so, go and make disciples.

(Miles McNair is the connections pastor at New Life Church of Powell.)