God Made it Grow

In a couple months we'll be moving into a new house so I’ve started packing things I don’t need right now. I packed the baking dishes, but when I realized I forgot to save out a 13 X 9 pan, I had to go to the Dollar Store and buy a disposable pan. It was only when I had the dish in the oven that I remembered I also packed all the oven mitts. So too, I inadvertently boxed up the Bible I normally use and I’m now forced to use a less familiar version.  I’ve been known to do something similar on the spiritual level. I pack my spiritual bags because I’m ready to move onto the next maturity level and then the Lord stops me in my tracks. On more than one occasion I’ve had to unpack and repack before Holy Spirit decides it’s time for me to move on. Paul said, “Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere men? What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow” (1 Cor 3:1-6 NIV).