IT WILL STUNT YOUR GROWTH

Growing up as a child I heard many things spoken by adults that over time I have learned are not true.  Fact is, though, I have told them on my own children.  You know the myths I am talking about.  "Gray hair is a result of too much stress."  This is actually not true.  According to research done, stress can cause hair loss, but the graying is simply a sign of aging and can begin as early as 30 years old for some.  Does that mean that every bald person has stress, though?  No, but it makes one scratch his head in wonder.  Or how about "Cracking your knuckles causes arthritis", "If you keep crossing your eyes they'll get stuck", and "If you pick up a toad you'll get warts on your hands".  The fact is these are just not true.  (I apologize if you still believe them).

          My personal favorite, however, is that "Drinking coffee will stunt your growth".  I have been drinking coffee for thirty years now and I am happy at 5’7”, haha.  Joking aside, I remember as a child being at church and hearing both my dad and the older people in the church telling me this as I would work to sneak a cup of joe in hopes that no one was looking.  Many times it did not work to my advantage.  But there is no true research to support this.  Truth be told, at one time people believed that caffeine was the reason for osteoporosis, which receded bone mass and height.  And if that was true, then why did parents deny children coffee but offer them soda?  I'll let you 'brew' that one around for a minute.

          While coffee may not stunt our growth, there is one thing that comes to mind which has that power.  That thing would be sin.  Now obviously the growth I am referring to is not a physical height per se, but our spiritual growth.  In looking at the younger days of the prophet Samuel in I Samuel 2:26, we see that he was dedicated to the LORD's service and lived with Eli.  In time he began to grow in stature (his physical frame) as well as in favor (pleasure) with the LORD and men.  He was found with favor specifically before God because he put aside sin and chased after the righteous ways of God.  Was he perfect?  By no means.  But he saw the benefit in saying no to sin and yes to God's commands.

          Psalm 119:1 reads, "Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the LORD."  In walking according to His law, we are growing and reaping the benefit of blessing.  Psalm 1:3 confirms this in saying about the one walking in God’s ways, "That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither - whatever they do prospers."  What does water do for a tree?  It helps in the growing process.  But on the flip side, walking in the ways of sin will only have us finding that our spiritual growth is stunted, for as Psalm 1 goes on to say, those who are not like the tree planted by the stream, those who are not growing, are like chaff which the wind blows.

          Now I am not here to condemn you in what I say, for it was just this morning on my way to work that God challenged me with this same thought.  I want to see the effects of growth in my life.  But in order for growth to happen I need to remove the obstacles that are stunting my growth.  I need to remove the sins as God is showing me.  And it isn't that I need to get rid of only a little sin in order to grow, but rather I need to get rid of all sin in order to grow.  As long as I leave an open door for sin, sin will continue to romance me from God.

          It is time we realize the perhaps hidden truth of this myth.  While coffee will not stunt our growth, physically or spiritually, sin most definitely will stunt our growth in the spiritual.  But I don't want to be stunted.  I am pretty sure you do not want to be either.  What must we do?  In the spiritual we must stop drinking our coffee of sin.  We must stop drinking in sin and suffering its effects, but instead allow ourselves to be like the tree planted by the stream - planted and growing firmly with our roots fully in God and His ways.