Babes in Christ

1 Corinthians 3:1-3
1 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; 3 for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?

Imagine that you are viewing a movie of a new born child. You get to watch as the baby is delivered. Its an exciting time. You see the child be nurtured and coddled. The film progresses and you get to see this baby get cuter and cuter with each day. There are cute outfits, little, bows, rattles, and toys.

Then there are scenes of the child as it begins to crawl. This baby stumbles a bit and can't quite get all four limbs working together, but soon enough after a little more viewing you see this baby finally begin to crawl. This child seems to be developing normally. You watch as this child's life unfolds and development and growth become more pronounced.

But something goes wrong. The child stops developing. Though the child is growing physically, it isn't developing mentally and emotionally. And it soon becomes evident that as it develops into that stage where crawling is left behind, that something isn't right. It still crawls when it should walk. The child still mumbles as an infant when it should be developing language skills. It is stuck in the infant stage. The situation is sad.

This is what Paul is comparing the Corinthians believers, too. They are babes in Christ. They have not grown up.

What does a spiritual baby look like:

A baby is concerned with self rather than service.
A baby is concerned with argument rather than action.
A baby looks to human resources.
A looks to people rather than to the Master

o He needs to look to Christ.
o He needs to remember the cross of Christ.
o He needs to begin building.
o He needs to pray to be more concerned for others than Himself.
o He needs to ask God to teach him patience, kindness, and maturity.

~author unknown