Training for Maturity

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As we continue to learn the nature of body life, we have to understand the distinctions that are made between those with special gifts and all the rest of us who need to learn a basic competence in those gifts.

Not every Christian should be a scholar, but every Christian should know how to read. Not every Christian should be a vocational musician, but every Christian should know how to sing praises to God in public worship. Not every Christian should be able to parse the errors of second century Gnosticism, but every Christian should have learned contempt for gnosticism on an athletic field. Not every Christian should be a high level mathematician, but every Christian should know how to manage his own finances, balancing his own checkbook.

When Paul teaches us about body life, he is teaching us how the mature body functions, when those with developed gifts are exercising those gifts. But what do we do about the process of education, whereby we are training our children, discovering their areas of giftedness, and encouraging them in those areas? With developed gifts, we give way to one another. The eye sees on behalf of the ear, and the ear hears on behalf of the eye.

But when we are training our children, bringing them up to a basic competence in all these areas, we need to take care that we make room for them all. We make room for them all by refusing to make them competitors. This will keep the kids busy, but worse things than that have happened. Training in literacy is not at odds with musical training, training in sports is not at odds with academics, and so on, down the line.

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