So, how big a boy are you anyway?

My three-year-old son John desperately wants to be “big.” He is convinced that he is missing out on most, if not all, of the really great parts of life because he is too little and too young. Moreover, since he is a child, he still has a distorted sense of time. He regularly makes statements like, “Daddy, when I’m four I’ll be big and then I can…” (e.g. drive a car, go hunting with you, go to school, etc.). I have to explain that while, yes, he will be bigger and more grown up when he is four, he still won’t be quite old or big enough to do some of these things. At the same time, I don’t want to discourage him in his desire to for greater maturity. After all, God ultimately hasn’t tasked Karen and me with raising four godly children, but with raising four godly adults.

I've been reflecting on this a lot the last couple days. I wonder some times how I'm doing at getting "bigger." I am certainly bigger physically than I was when I got married (too many good meals from the dear wife, not enough activity). But how much have I grown spiritually? Am I eagerly desiring to grow "bigger" so that I can do the things "big" people do? When I turn 35 next year, will I be more or less spiritually mature than I am today? The spiritual life is never static, after all. We are either growing ever more like Christ or else we are moving further away from that goal.

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. – Ephesians 4:14-15 (NIV)