John 20:28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.

Continuing on with comparing natural birth with spiritual rebirth, let us grow up and leave the terrible twos, shall we?

Now we are out on the playground. We are mixing it up with other children our age, our spiritual maturity. We are not allowed to play with the older kids. They might accidently hurt us. Maybe not accidently. Older kids play rough. They are bigger, stronger and capable of inflicting wounds.

So let us deal with being in a peer group. We are all equal on the playground. Competition isn’t so much one on one as it is in where we came from. “My dad is ….” Now it is all about MY DAD.

It doesn’t occur to us that our spiritual dad is also their spiritual dad. He is after all my dad. It is at this very moment when we start seeing the differences in denominations. We are Catholic. We are Baptist. We are Methodist. We are Pentecostal. We are all on the same playground, we are all peers, but suddenly now because He is my dad, He is better than your dad.

Matthew 12:25 And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand:

Desolation is the aim of the enemy. Here we are on the playground of spiritual growth and we are at play. We have been under the protective umbrella of our spiritual family, what do we know of the enemy and his waring ways? We do not see the enemy at work, we see playmates who say his dad can beat up my dad.

Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

What did we know about wrestling, we just want to play.

“Dad. Jimmy isn’t playing nice.” What can you do?

Matthew 19:14 But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.

So the Kingdom is like little children. Suffer them. Parents might say the same of their two year olds. It is that time of life where they moved beyond those early days of unsteady steps and start getting into everything. There is a fair amount of watching over as they explore their independence.

Spiritually speaking those early years of learning how to walk in the spirit are unstable with many a misstep. It has been a long time past in the natural that one learned how to walk. The born again will suffer the same unsteadiness but in their mind, “I know how to walk.” A steadying hand is required but that same willful glee to run is present in the born again just as in the first born.

Everything is new. It is discovery time. This new found freedom says I can do anything.

Galatians 5:13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.

This is a more mature lesson that a two-year-old might not grasp. The terrible twos are a time of adventure and discovery. They do not yet know how it all works together for their good.

What is a clear sign that might help a young Christian understand they are in those early stages? In the natural we see and know by one clear and resounding response. “No.” That is a no without cause or rationale, it is just, “No. I don’t want to.”

Been there, done that. Anything else you see in those early years that can be seen in early spiritual growth?

Pease share.