EXPERIENCE

I've come to the conclusion over the years that some people drop out of religion because they expect the wrong things. Some people come to a church because they are looking for something they haven't been able to find or something missing in their lives. They become a Christian or become involved with a local church and expect their lives to suddenly be perfect, no more problems to face. No more attacks by Satan, suddenly their whole life should become easier with no more hassles. When that doesn't happen they just quit and give up on God.

People like this are kind of like a lady who was picking through the frozen turkeys at the grocery store, but couldn't find one big enough for her family and was trying to get to the ones in the bottom of the freezer. A stock boy happened by and she asked, "Do these turkeys get any bigger?" The stock boy replied, "No ma'am, they're dead."

The stock boy thought she was asking for something unrealistic and far too often we do too. One of the things people fail to realize is that the peace we find in Christ is of a spiritual nature, which allows us to eventually find peace in our physical world. There are some people who can make that transition in understanding, growth if you will very quickly. Probably most people like this have already been striving to have a relationship with God. They can find a new peace that passes the understanding of most of the world, but most of us are not that way. We need time to mature in Christ from a new beginning and grow into what God intends. Peter writes in 1 Peter 2:2, "Be full of desire for the true milk of the word, as babies at their mothers’ breasts, so that you may go on to salvation."

When we do that then we will find that peace in God for which we are looking. But the key is that God does expect us to grow, not just set in a church pew like a new born child laying in its mothers arms, never growing, never maturing. Paul writes about this in Hebrews 5:11-14 where he says, "We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil."

The bottom line is this; if you want to find peace in this world don't expect to find it quickly or easily. It comes to us when we give the Word of God time to grow and mature in our lives by putting to practice the things we find in it. We become as Paul said, "the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil."

(Messages From The Heart)