As my daughter marked her fourth birthday anniversary, I overheard say these words while playing with her elder sister; “I’m a big girl o, don’t call me a small girl”. While I wouldn’t know what ensued between them, I could decode that she was letting her elder sister know how she should treat her. She has grown up.

Friend, you must realize that you are no more a small girl (boy, man or woman). You are grown. You should grow. However, unlike in the physical, growth in the kingdom is not automatic. It is deliberate. We don’t assume growth, we must be sure we are truly growing. While growing old is normal, growing up is not. There are things to do to grow up; there are indices of growth.

There is a way a grownup person thinks, understands and speaks. If you check 1 Corinthians 13:11 properly, you would notice the ordering of the words. One of the marks of immaturity is speaking before thinking and understanding; whereas a mature person thinks and understands before speaking. This is why we are admonished to be slow to speak (James 1:19).

God has expectations over us for each phase of our lives (Hebrews 5:12). There is a time that God expects you to have come up in some areas of your life. There is a time He expects you to hear Him for yourself rather than running to pastors and mentors to hear for you (1 Samuel 3:7-8, 21). There is a time He expects you to have overcome mood swing. Mood swing is not a fruit of the Spirit, it is a reflection of your level of growth and maturity (Romans 14:17).

“Butter and honey shall he eat…” (Isaiah 7:15). You are what you eat. You cannot grow beyond your diets. While it is important to feed on milk as a baby, you are expected to outgrow it with time (1 Peter 2:2). If you keep feeding on the same diet year in, year out, you are not growing. If you still find it difficult to accommodate some Bible truths, you are not growing (Hebrews 5:11-14).

“And the child grew…” (Luke 1:80). It is comfortable to the flesh to always want to posture as a baby; someone must carry you, pet you, buy sacks for you and stuff like that. But it is dangerous to your destiny of greatness. Like my daughter, you should tell those who are propping you up; “I’m no more a baby”. I can do stuff for myself. Until you stop the entitlement mentality and begin to take responsibility, you would be stuck in the journey of destiny.

© ‘Demola Awoyele
Lead Pastor,
Destiny Impact Church
Akure, Nigeria