Growing Pains

Daily Reading:  Luke 2

Scripture Focus: And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him... And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. (Luke 2.40, 52)

Devotional Thought: In Jesus’ infancy, he "grew and became strong."  When he was twelve years old, he "grew in wisdom and stature."

The Greek words translated “grew” are different in these two sentences.  When describing Jesus as an infant, Luke used the word auxano.  It is the word used to describe how plants and infants grow – naturally, without effort on their part. As a young teen, however, the word used for grow is prokopto.  It literally means “to beat forward” and signifies that the grower is putting effort into his/her growth.

I think this is very helpful to us as we pray for our little ones.  Just as Jesus grew naturally in his childhood and infancy, we should pray that children should grow – by influences outside themselves (parents, grandparents, teachers, and so on).  As they age, our prayers for them should begin to change, reflecting that the growth they need in their teen years and beyond is a growth that comes from within themselves.  They must learn to “beat themselves forward” in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man.  I like how Matthew Henry phrases it: “Young people, as they grow in stature, should grow in wisdom, and then, as they grow in wisdom, they will grow in favour with God and man.”

Even though Jesus as the Son of God was perfect at every stage of his life, he still needed to grow from being an infant to a toddler to a child to a teen and to an adult.  As you pray for the children under your influence, pray that they would grow just like Jesus! 

Prayer: Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you are our example in everything - even in childhood.  Help us and our children to grow as you grew and to grow into your likeness - even when that means we may experience growing pains.  Amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 133.1-3

1 Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!

2 It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes!

3 It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore.