Time To Grow Up
The Danger of Being a Baby Christian
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CHAPTER
11
The Danger of Being a Baby Christian
John 15:5 NKJ
“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing!”
Yes, there are dangers in being a baby Christian. First of all, for anyone who was a slow learner, like I was, there is so much I regret in having wasted so many years!
Secondly, if you raised children, you realize you have not given them a firm foundation on which to build their lives. Yes, I took them to church, they were in Sunday school and Bible school - but there were no family devotions, reading Bible stories together and experiencing the blessings of praying together. There is a greater danger, of course. If you haven’t been discipled, and have never grown in your walk with Christ, you can easily be used by the enemy to keep you a baby. And I might emphasize, that you do not live unto yourself. Your life has an impact on every person you interact with - and in the big scheme of life, this impact can be eternal, good or bad.
There is an old saying, that is so true, “one I love, and one I hate, but the one I feed will dominate!” Have you ever been to a nature refuge and seen the sign, “Do not feed the animals?” Because what you feed demands more. When we feed our flesh, it demands more. And that shuts the door on the voice of the Holy Spirit in our life and His guidance. And we need to be able to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit!
Of course this means you could turn your back on God and join the crowd. But you will have no joy, no blessings, and no rewards in heaven. The problem with compromise in a Christian’s life is this: You have enough of God in your life, you can’t enjoy walking in sin. And you have enough compromise/sin in your life, it’s hard to enjoy a relationship with God. I’ve always felt if anyone really denied Jesus, after being saved and knowing His love, how could he deny Him? My experience when I wasseven, made me think I was a Christian. I had been baptized and was a member of the church! Thank God for the Holy Spirit! He is the one who directed that lady behind me at youth camp! Though I didn’t know who it was at the time, the Holy Spirit (through her) certainly let me know I needed Jesus. When I was twelve, I knew I had made a mistake following my sister down the aisle. I knew I wasn’t a Christian, and if I died, I wouldn’t have gone to heaven!
I lived with that fear for four or five years. Because I was a member of the church and my daddy was the pastor! I didn’t share the fear with anyone - not even my parents! I remember reading somewhere, that Jesus would rather have one sold-out disciple than 100 church members who are carnal Christians. I think that’s a true statement!
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About the Book
“It’s Time To Grow Up - The Danger of Being a Baby Christian” is about her life as a baby Christian. She was past fifty years old when she realized who she was in Christ! It was only after taking a discipleship class called “Masterlife” that she became aware of what was missing in her life. She didn’t know the person of the Holy Spirit! Before this study, she had always had difficulty with the meaning of the word sanctification; and she was teaching a women’s Sunday school class! She shares in this story what she had in common with the woman at the well, and how God dramatically changed her life.
About the Author
Betty is a retired public school teacher. She has taught in several Oklahoma locations, beginning with Oklahoma City and retiring from her favorite subjects to teach, drama and speech, at Okeene, Oklahoma. She also was blessed to be a Bible teacher at a Sunday night service for five years at the Diamondback Prison for men at Watonga, Oklahoma. She received her bachelor degree from Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee, Oklahoma, and her masters degree from Southwestern OSU in Weatherford, Oklahoma. She has two children, Vanessa Teichman and Jack Lorenz, and his wife Betty. Three grand children, Bo Teichman, and Kevin and Ryan Lorenz. Betty Miles’s father, George Dickey, was a Baptist preacher in several Oklahoma towns and last pastored in Panacea, Florida prior to his death. She currently resides at the Baptist Village in Oklahoma City.