Hand Holding

When our kids are little, we hold their hand everywhere we go. Walk down the sidewalk? Hold their hand. Walk through a store? Hold their hand. Run into somebody you know? Hold their hand. They need constant attention, constant help from us when they’re young.

When my kids were little, I dreaded going to the beach, a playground, the Chick-fil-A play area. It was so much work to follow my littles around, to make sure they were safe and not falling off something. I’ll never forget the time we went to one of those indoor play lands. One of my littles went all the way to the top in this playground thing and then got stuck. I had to start up these levels made of net…if you know you know…and climb up level after level to get up to where my child was. Then we had to come back down. I would drop them through the net opening to the next level and then climb down. I did this over and over and over again until we made it back down.

Thankfully, we’re past all that now. Now, we can go somewhere; and I don’t have to worry about them. They’re free to come and go as they please as long as they check in and let us know where they’re going to be.

Needing Affirmation

When our kids are young, they need so much supervision and so much affirmation to help them conquer their fears and learn and grow. As they get older, they don’t need nearly as much. That doesn’t mean our job is done; it just means they don’t need as much affirmation and minute-by-help.

Our Christian life, in many ways, is much the same. When we first get saved, first start on this journey of faith, we need moment-by-moment affirmation from God. We need Him to hold our hand for everything. We need His help, encouragement, and reminders that we aren’t alone, that He’s got us in the palm of His hand. But then, as we mature, we begin to not get those constant reminders. We go for longer without hearing from Him. This is all part of the growth process. We start maturing. It used to be that something bad would happen, and we would question our faith. Where is God? Do I even believe in God? But then as we mature, we hit a trial, and we choose to trust God in the midst of it. That’s strengthening our faith muscles. That’s a sign we’re maturing.

Wanting a Sign

The people in Jesus’ day didn’t get this. We see over and over again their lack of faith, their lack of spiritual growth. They demanded proof, demanded a sign. They never got past the base level of Who Jesus was. They wanted to see the things He could do, instead of seeing Who He was.

What sign, then, are you going to do so that we may see and believe you?” they asked. “What are you going to perform? 

John 6:30

Jesus couldn’t do what He wanted at times because of their lack of faith. It’s a warning to us. Don’t be a surface-level follower of Jesus. We have to get past the “show me, and I’ll believe.” I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to miss out on God working in my life because I couldn’t get past the most basic level of faith.

We have to move past a simple faith where God has to hold our hand every step of the way and mature into a faith strong enough we can stand on.

More Encouragement

For more encouragement, check out my post, Understanding the Process God Takes Us Through. A book I’m currently reading that is challenging how I think about God and my relation to Him is The Prodigal God by Timothy Keller.