SPIRITUAL
GROWTH; DISCIPLESHIP

Once while walking among the hills of a southeastern state I noticed a piece of white paper lying by the roadside.

Its presence there was, under the circumstances, so unexpected that it aroused my curiosity. I picked it up and found written on it in a clear, legible hand these words: “In all the world there are only two creatures that are larger when they are born than when they get their growth; one is a wasp and the other is a church member.”…

Not being an apiarist I am unable to judge the truth of the statement that a baby wasp is larger than an adult one; but that part about the church member I find too true to be amusing or even comfortable.…

Now I do not insist that my description applies to all Christians. In fact I think our epigrammatist was covering too much territory when he gave the impression that all church members get smaller as they get older. I do not think they all do, but the fact that some do is enough to disturb one who loves the church and carries the welfare of the saints on his heart; and the fact that any do calls for prayer and careful investigation.

Ephesians 4:14–16; 1 Peter 2:1–2; 2 Peter 3:18

God Tells the Man Who Cares, 114, 115, 116.