Check out this ride! I was riding high! I had a killer job, a good paycheck, and was able to buy my first car. I cannot even explain to you how pretty and very, very fast it was. I won’t bore you with the under hood stats; but, it would hit sixty in under three seconds. Much under it! Though I grew up driving the Kansas straight highways, where 100 mph was common to me, navigating the streets of Spokane were a bit different. Every stoplight in town became life threatening to everyone in my path. I could drive fast on the freeway, but, the car was too powerful for me to handle. No matter how hard I tried to anticipate the lights, I would always screech to a stop. Then on the green, I would leave all cars behind me, and usually some rubber. I didn’t want to admit to my family that the car was too much for me to handle. But it was. I was not yet skilled enough in perfect clutch control or the fine muscle uses of the accelerator. I drove to the dealership after having it only a few months, and was looking at a van that was more practical for my growing family. As I was looking, I saw my Trans Am leave the lot. I found an old boring van and the dealer was really happy, since he had already sold the Trans Am to someone that had seen it drive into the lot, even before I signed the papers!!! Oh it was a beautiful car!
As a Christian leader today, I have the crucial responsibility to measure Bible teachings to the appropriate level for each student. If I teach a babe in Christ (a brand new Christian with only folk training) a lesson meant for a mature Christian, two things can happen. The first would be the total failure of learning that Scripture since it was not based on foundational learning. The second problem can lead to young Christians reading a great deal of magical spirituality and misrepresent the Word of God. Just like my fast car, tragedy is just around the corner. That misunderstanding can lead to false teachings and possibly a loss of salvation. Scripture says:
And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? (1 Corinthians 3:1-3)
Some churches that are especially far away from Christ’s teachings often ignore the babes, or promote the babes way past their understanding, which leads to those churches getting worse and worse in the presentation of the Gospel of Christ. Most of the famous television ministries play to the babes and promise riches and power to come to them if only they send payment. So, the babes in Christ are taken advantage of and suffer greatly.
But, more and more, the babes in Christ just sit in a pew or send spiritual messages to each other on the Internet, and think this is all they must do to be right with Christ. That is error. Strong Christian leaders must try to teach every Christian that comes to them, including the babes. We must analyze spiritual growth correctly, and insure a foundation of Christ is laid. Then, we must go on to teach the Christian more advanced things of the Word of God which one day can lead to the revelation of the mysteries and supernatural doings of the LORD God. But, that is a long journey for a student of God’s, and it can never be hustled. My car was too much for me to handle at that point in my life; give it to me now, and I would perfectly operate the vehicle. The Word of God is even more powerful, and in the right hands, the LORD God can be known by many. However, those that study the Word of God must be given stair steps of training, with brick upon brick laid to the foundation, so the believer can eventually be fully equipped with the Word of God.