"And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified....Then [a couple days later] they said to the woman, 'Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world'" (John 4:39, 42 NKJV).
A little over three years ago, he didn't exist; he wasn't even a cute, baby blue thought twinkling in anyone's mind. Now he's a real little boy, toddling around on foot-long legs that grow sturdier by the day. So much has changed in three-ish years. When he was a reddish, wrinkled new born, my sister woke up at all sorts of unearthly hours of the night to nurse him, change his colorfully overflowing diapers, burp him, or just rock him so he could feel Mama close. As time passed and he grew, he learned to hold his head up on his own wobbly neck. Somewhere along the way Catie had to buy bigger diapers. More calendar pages turned and he was crawling around like a little beetle all over the kitchen tile. He could sit in his high chair and "open wide for the airplane!" His menu has now expanded from breast milk and blended fruit to most of what's on the table for Mom and Dad. And today, instead of taking a few steps on legs that are as jiggly as jello, he walks with the confidence fitting a toddling, little boy.
Obviously, I hope that Gabe will continue to grow stronger and become more confident and mature. Hopefully, when he's sixteen, he'll be able to go to the bathroom by himself and not need a Cars themed potty to help get him excited and motivated to relieve himself. Hopefully, he'll be able to communicate in full coherent sentences instead of crying or speaking the spotty one or two syllable word. Hopefully, I won't need to sit in front of him and request in a mickey-mouse voice that he "open wide for the choo-choo train." Hopefully, when he's sixteen, he'll be shoveling food into his mouth and filling his proverbial hollow legs. He'll eventually become an intelligent, independent, faithful, godly man who can take care of himself, hopefully.
The salvational experience of the Samaritans in John 4 parallels the maturing process of a child. Their faith was conceived and birthed through the testimony of the woman at the well. She shared with them the truth she'd discovered, parenting their belief in Jesus. They fed off of her experience. They toddled on their legs of newborn faith in Jesus as the Messiah. But as time ticked and they matured in their experience, they soon found that they no longer were looking to her to find spiritual sustenance, but rather could feed themselves. They went from believing in Jesus because of her personal experience to believing in Jesus because "we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world" (John 4:42 NKJV).
I believe it's very important that I grow and mature spiritually, just like my nephew does physically. It's important that I learn to sustain myself and not feed solely off of my family's faith or depend purely on my pastor, maintaining a parasitical piety. I don't want to simply live off someone else's experience. I want my relationship with God to be just that: mine.
There are some of us who should be able to feed ourselves, but, for some reason, still expect someone to ask us to "open wide for the airplane." Every week we're counting on the sermon to shore up our slumping spirituality. This is totally OK for a fledgling in the faith, but when you're "21," your Gerber food and diaper days should be long gone.
I'm not pointing fingers; though I've had experiences where I know God has revealed Himself to me, I still see an area for growth that's bigger than the Grand Canyon. God is calling each of us to embark on our own journey, guided by personal, daily Bible study and prayer. He's asking us to "call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the Lord..." (Jeremiah 29:12-14 NKJV).
I'm now twenty-one. I should brush my teeth myself. I should put on my clothes myself. I should feed my mouth forkfuls of food by myself. There are many things I should do myself.
One of them is believe.
Because I've "heard Him and... know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world" (John 4:42 NKJV).
