Don’t Tell Me What To Do. I’m Grown!

There are some ADULTS who confess Christ but live sinful lives, and when a younger person attempts to correct them–in love and with respect–using the Bible as their source of authority, the adult will say, “Don’t talk to me that way. Stay in a child’s place. You can’t tell me what to do. I’m grown!”

With that type of prideful attitude and unwillingness to receive correction, these adults may be “grown” in the natural, but they are still immature in the Spirit and undeveloped in the character of God. Jesus said that in order to inherit the kingdom of God, we must come to him as little children–Willing to be taught and to learn the ways of the kingdom. Many Christians parents and adults seem to use their age to justify their ungodly behaviors and as an excuse to continue in sin. They have a mindset that since they are “grown,” no one who is younger than them should be able to discipline them, especially not their own children. But they tend to forget that they will never be more “grown” than God. As Jesus would say, “Before [you] were, I AM.” God is older than anyone on this planet, and if grown ups don’t want to submit to God now, then they will have to submit to him on Judgment day, when they will have to stand before his throne and give an account of every deed they’ve ever committed in the flesh.

Christian adults and parents hear this: God brings correction in many forms, even through children–And it will take humility on your behalf to receive it. Just because you are grown doesn’t mean you know everything. Stop using your old age or the fact that you are a parent as an excuse not to live righteously. In God’s eyes, you are still children. And if you allow God to chastise you, then you are legitimately his offspring. But if you won’t let him correct you, then you are a bastard.

Young people of God, be encouraged with this passage from 1 Timothy 4:12: “Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. But be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity.”