This post is a little of a departure from my adoption posts lately. My youngest son Elijah has a new skill, standing. He is 11 months old and just started pulling up the other day. I know some of you know many kids who are 11 months old and walking but my kids are always a little late with that, most likely due to their increased chubbiness, it’s a lot to get off the ground. lol Elijah is so proud of himself now that he can stand up like everyone else. Before now he could crawl, but that doesn’t get you where you want to go all the time. Now he can reach things he couldn’t reach before and I am sure the world looks different from standing then it does from sitting.

Seeing him show off his new talent makes me think about our Christian walk. It sure is easy to crawl, standing is hard work, but we cannot crawl forever. It seems as though some Christians become Christians and then are stuck in the “baby” stage of Christianity forever. They don’t seem to push themselves to grow in Christ at all. They are content to sit back and watch others walk instead. Walking is hard! Actually the walking isn’t so hard, it’s the falling that’s hard. Elijah has fallen a few times now that he is standing and it hurts! I am sure he would rather not do it again, but he gets up and tries again. There is something driving him to stand up and walk. I think it’s that we are all cheering for him. Maybe those Christians that spend their lives in the “baby” phase of crawling have never had anyone to cheer them on to do anything more than crawl.  The Bible says in I Thessalonians 5:11  “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. ” We are to encourage each other to grow in Christ.

How do we grow in Christ? We grow in our relationship with Him by knowing Him better. You cannot know someone unless you spend time with them. We do that by praying and reading God’s word. We also can know Christ better by spending time with other Christians. Maybe there are people in your life who need some spiritual encouragement to grow, what can you do to help them? You can pray for them, you can talk with them about spiritual things, or you can invite them to a Bible study. Be aware that you are being watched. Other Christians and non-Christians are watching you and you will either encourage them to grow or not through your actions. Do your actions encourage others to know Christ more deeply? Do your actions encourage others to strengthen their faith? Or are they discouraged by watching how you live? There is a song on the radio right now that I really like it says:

“It’s your life

What you gonna do?

The world is watching you

Every day the choices you make

Say what you are and who Your heart beats for

It’s an open door It’s your life ”

It’s your life by Francesca Battistelli

Your life makes a statement to others, what is it saying?