Friday, February 6 We should no longer be children.​—Eph. 4:14.

[Anniebea]

Friday, February 6

We should no longer be children.—Eph. 4:14.

 

A Christian who remains immature can easily be misled by “trickery” and “deceptive schemes” and be taken in by conspiracy theorists and apostates. He may be prone to being jealous, creating strife, taking offense, or yielding to temptation. (1 Cor. 3:3) The Scriptures compare the process of growing to spiritual maturity to the process of growing to adulthood. (Eph. 4:15) A child lacks insight and needs supervision. To illustrate, a mother might ask her young daughter to hold her hand while crossing the street. As the girl grows older, the mother might allow her to cross the street on her own but will still remind her to look both ways for traffic. When the child becomes an adult, she avoids such hazards on her own. Likewise, when Christians become mature, they reason on Bible principles to get Jehovah’s thinking on the matter and then follow through accordingly. w24.04 3 ¶5-6

[dljbsp]

One part of this warning is easy to miss. The danger does not come only from obvious outsiders or clearly false teachers. Sometimes it comes from within, when those who are viewed as mature begin to speculate.

 

When a spiritually strong person shares guesses or theories, weaker ones often listen closely. They may assume, If a mature Christian is saying this, it must be solid. In that way, speculation can carry more weight than it should. What began as a personal idea can slow another person’s growth or even confuse them.

 

This is where trickery and deception can enter, not because someone intends harm, but because speculation is treated like truth. Immature Christians are especially affected. Instead of building confidence in what Jehovah has clearly given us, they may become unsettled, unsure, or distracted by ideas that cannot be proven.

 

True maturity shows restraint. It recognizes that saying less is sometimes the loving choice. It protects the weak by staying close to what is known and clearly taught. When mature ones avoid speculation, they help others grow steadily instead of being pushed back and forth.

Jehovah's Organization has been encouraging us to 'stick to what we know'.