Where Was I?
Oh, yes, still in 1 John 2. Found John sounding a little like Peter (see 1 Pet 2:2) when he repeats the “growing old – getting better” paradigm. At first glance, verses 12-14 look like a stutter in hand writing – you know, like when you forget you already wrote something, and do it again.
But that is not what John is saying. His thrust in these three verses is to emphasize how we grow.
I don’t know of anyone who, when born could do anything other than “baby” things. Everything else we do took us some time to develope the skills, muscle tone, “eye”, “ear” or whatever else makes you great in some area of life. Willie Mays spent many hours practicing hitting that little white ball – developing the muscle control and “eye” to match the sweet spot on the bat with the ball.
Every great person we have heard of got that way because they learned from their mistakes, and got back up and tried a different way. And if we can’t do that, then we definitely won’t get any better! John wants us to know that as we grow in our walk as Christ followers, we get better (stronger). Peter says that we grow by starting with milk and progressing to meat – and he is right. Have not seen any babies who can demolish a steak. They and we grow into the big people’s food.
Each of us will grow at a different rate, but the goal is not to keep up with one another, but to keep up with what the “Teacher” is teaching us. It begins with His words and my listening.