Growing Pains

Pastor,” the young man said earnestly, “I don’t think I can go to heaven. I don’t think I can be saved.” He explained to me that he loved God, was very much a part of his local church, and read his Bible. “But there are still sins in my life, and I’ve been told that I won’t be ready for salvation until I have put every sin out of my life.” “You still sin?” I asked. He nodded. “Welcome to the human family,” I said warmly. Sin should never be taken lightly. The wages of sin is death. And the Bible is clear that there is power in Jesus to “keep [us] from falling” (Jude 24, KJV). As Ellen White wrote in The Desire of Ages, “The plan of redemption contemplates our complete recovery from the power of Satan. Christ always separates the contrite soul from sin.

He came to destroy the works of the devil, and He has made provision that the Holy Spirit shall be imparted to every repentant soul, to keep him from sinning.”* But as I explained to the young man, coming to faith in Jesus does not make you the finished article. A baby isn’t born walking, tying her shoelaces, or riding a bicycle.

These things come with growth.

I suggested to my friend that, when he accepted Jesus as his personal Savior, he was clothed with the perfect righteousness of Jesus.

Growing through one’s weaknesses does not mean a believer is not a child of God, any more than a child is not cut off from his or her parents because he mistook yellow for orange or called an apple a pear.

Understanding and accepting that Christians must grow just as trees grow does not minimize the devastating effects of sin. But failing to understand the principles of Christian growth can devastate a believer wrestling with his or her inadequacies. Jesus explained that Christian growth is a process, just as a plant starts as a seed, then sprouts to a seedling that ultimately reaches maturity as a grown plant.

Even if you are experiencing growing pains, keep your eyes on Jesus, and grow.