{"id":17100,"date":"2023-06-13T19:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-13T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/retro.piorevangelho.online\/?p=17100"},"modified":"2023-06-13T19:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-06-13T22:00:00","slug":"maturation-in-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/piorevangelho.online\/en\/amadurecimento-na-fe\/","title":{"rendered":"Maturing in Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is a scene in the second episode of the original Thundercats series that, while not specifically for Christians, reveals something interesting about both earthly life and spirituality, as well as the Christian's relationship with God:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Tygra)<\/mark> \u2014 Don't forget to bring the Claw-Shield and the Sword, Lion-O, in case you need to summon us.
(Lion-O)<\/mark> \u2014 Yes, I will handle anything that may come up. \u2014 (Lion-O walks away from the group)
(Panthro)<\/mark> \u2014 Was that a good idea, Tygra?
(Cheetara)<\/mark> \u2014 Are we helping Lion-O by asking him to do unpleasant tasks?
(Tygra)<\/mark> Remember, our friend Lion-O spent ten galactic years in a suspension capsule. During that time, he only grew in size, but the fact is he didn't mature: he missed out on the experiences through which people mature.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so it was, while going out to check the area where they would build their headquarters, the "Cat's Lair," that Lion-O had his first encounter with his greatest enemies, the mutants, and especially the greatest of them all, Mumm-Ra\u2026
Lion-O was pressured to mature rapidly precisely because he inherited the right to lead the Thundercats from his father, but he only completed the process, becoming the leader by merit, throughout the series, by overcoming the challenges imposed by the Thundercats Code, proving himself capable of overcoming the challenges of the other members: strength (Panthro), speed (Cheetara), and intelligence (Tygra).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A person who doesn't go through experiences, even unpleasant ones, will never become a truly mature human being.
The expression "spoiled child," in many cases, can be applied metaphorically to grown-ups or even older people: those who are protected from everything, whom parents, family, and friends try to prevent from facing situations they dislike, will lack the emotional structure and ability to cope with adversity, always depending on others to solve their problems and, often, becoming enraged when contradicted or frustrated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This rule also applies, and even more emphatically, to the maturing of faith.
Recalling my own personal experience, I remember meeting a certain lady who disliked her son-in-law, whom she called "a piece of trash," and said she prayed every day that her daughter would separate from him, but she never revealed the reason for her dislike.
However, after more than a year, she ended up seeing her daughter not only continue her relationship with him, but also formalize their union in a registry office.
The result?
This woman abandoned her faith, saying that God was not faithful and that she no longer wanted to know about Him.
Later, I learned the reason she rejected her son-in-law: he was a waiter in a restaurant, a profession she felt was unsuitable for her daughter, a high school teacher\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.
What I gave you to drink was milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it.,
Nor can you even now, because you are still worldly.
Since all kinds of envy and discord prevail among you,
Are you perhaps being worldly, living according to purely worldly standards?<\/p>\n(1\u02e2\u1d57 Corinthians 3:1-3 \u2013 KJA)<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, there are people who, as Paul says, refuse to experience the "solid food" of faith, always having to receive "milk" because they are still carnal, that is, because they are concerned with secondary issues, vanities, and personal preferences, and ignore the core of the Gospel: the renunciation of one's own will for the love of the Savior, in the certainty of living eternally in His presence in the New Jerusalem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No one says that growing up is easy, neither in everyday life nor, especially, in one's relationship with God.
Paul himself, the greatest evangelist the world has ever known, had to be aggressively converted by Jesus, who blinded him and forced him to fast for three days (see Acts 9:1-30<\/mark><\/strong>) and later even placed a "thorn in the flesh" on him (see 2\u207f\u1d48 Corinthians 12:7-10<\/mark><\/strong>\u2026in addition to all the afflictions he endured throughout his ministry, having been flogged five times by order of the authorities of his own people (according to 2\u207f\u1d48 Corinthians 11:24<\/mark><\/strong>), remaining imprisoned for about 5 of his 30 years of ministry and, at the end, being executed.
However, without having gone through all of that, he would not have acquired the spiritual maturity that led him to never deny Christ under any circumstances! Nor would the comforting epistles to the Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, written by him while he was in prison, exist today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Precisely because of their ignorance of the fact that the process of maturing in faith is hard and even painful, many so-called "believers" refuse to follow the path of Christ in times of difficulty, preferring to wait only for earthly blessings and the permanent fulfillment of their desires, and even more so, in the exact way they imagine it should happen!
Who hasn't seen one of these people "prophesying" about a car, a house, money, a job, promotions, recognition, health... all those things that God didn't promise anyone He would provide?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this, many of these "believers" resemble Kevin Sorbo's character in the first film of the "God's Not Dead" franchise, in which he plays a militant atheist professor who ends up being unmasked by one of his students, who proves to the whole class that he was not actually an atheist, but rather, someone revolted against God because the Creator did not prevent his mother from dying of cancer when he was 12 years old: the student, much more spiritually mature, told him that "sometimes, God's answer is 'NO'.".<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As mentioned, the process of maturing is not easy\u2014nor can one specifically demand that Christians enjoy going through it\u2014which can lead many to shed tears and feel dissatisfied, especially when they see that so many others apparently do not face such things.
However, carrying the cross and persevering\u2014even amidst difficult, painful, and unpleasant situations, and having personal desires unfulfilled by God\u2014is the process that all truly mature and steadfast Christians go through.
And it is precisely through this maturation that their faith leads them forward, until the day of entering the New Jerusalem\u2026 something that \u201cchildren\u201d in faith easily reject, thinking only of the \u201chere and now\u201d and receiving from the Heavenly Father everything they desire (something that not even an earthly father does).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, let each one face this difficult process as a guarantee that God truly desires their good, and not their damnation: He corrects and chastises the son He receives, making him as similar as possible to the image of Jesus in earthly life, until the fullness of perfection acquired in eternity.
Let us mature through the pain, for in the end, it will all have been worth it.
To God be all the glory!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Bonds of Calvary<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/div>

Eduardo Pydd Teixeira<\/p>

<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

Everything seems to indicate that the end times are unfolding ever more rapidly, and before the Lord returns like a thief in the night, we can already observe signs of the prophesied reign of the Antichrist consolidating not only in Brazil, but throughout the world!
In the 2023 phase of "The Worst Gospel," I decided to use new formats in the hope of helping to increase the reach of content related to the Scriptures\u2014stories, videos, shorter texts, guest authors\u2026\u2014and this publication, which I took the liberty of revising and illustrating, is part of that project.
Thank you for reading this far.
I still need all the help I can get: comments, shares, and reactions help spread this content, which was entirely produced with the intention of contributing to the edification of the Body of Christ in the world.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

H\u00e1 uma cena no segundo epis\u00f3dio da s\u00e9rie original dos Thundercats que, embora n\u00e3o seja espec\u00edfica para os crist\u00e3os, revela algo interessante tanto sobre a vida terrena, quanto sobre a espiritualidade e a rela\u00e7\u00e3o do crist\u00e3o com Deus: (Tygra) \u2014 N\u00e3o esque\u00e7a de levar a Garra-Escudo e a Espada, Lion-O, caso precise nos convocar.(Lion-O) \u2014 Sim, eu darei conta de tudo o que possa surgir. \u2014 (Lion-O se afasta do grupo)(Panthro) \u2014 Ser\u00e1 que foi uma boa ideia, Tygra?(Cheetara) \u2014 Ser\u00e1 que estamos ajudando Lion-O ao pedir que fa\u00e7a tarefas desagrad\u00e1veis?(Tygra) \u2014 Lembrem-se, o nosso amigo Lion-O passou dez anos gal\u00e1cticos em uma c\u00e1psula de suspens\u00e3o. Durante esse per\u00edodo, ele cresceu somente em tamanho, mas o fato \u00e9 que ele n\u00e3o amadureceu: ele perdeu as experi\u00eancias atrav\u00e9s das quais as pessoas amadurecem. E foi assim, ao sair para verificar a \u00e1rea onde construiriam seu QG, a “Toca dos Gatos”, que aconteceu o primeiro encontro de Lion-O com os seus grandes inimigos, os mutantes, e especialmente o maior de todos, Mumm-Ra…Lion-O foi pressionado a amadurecer de forma acelerada exatamente por ter o direito \u00e0 lideran\u00e7a dos Thundercats por heran\u00e7a de seu pai, mas s\u00f3 completou o processo, tornando-se o l\u00edder por m\u00e9rito, ao longo da s\u00e9rie, ao vencer os desafios impostos pelo C\u00f3digo dos Thundercats, provando ser capaz de vencer os desafios dos demais membros: o de for\u00e7a (Panthro), o de velocidade (Cheetara) e o de intelig\u00eancia (Tygra). Uma pessoa que n\u00e3o passa por experi\u00eancias, mesmo as que lhe desagradam, jamais vai se tornar um ser humano realmente adulto.A express\u00e3o “crian\u00e7a mimada”, em muitos casos, pode ser aplicado metaforicamente a pessoas j\u00e1 crescidas ou em idade at\u00e9 mais avan\u00e7ada: quem \u00e9 protegido de tudo, a quem os pais, familiares e amigos tentam evitar que enfrente situa\u00e7\u00f5es que n\u00e3o lhe agradam, n\u00e3o ter\u00e1 estrutura emocional e capacidade de lidar com adversidades, ficando sempre na depend\u00eancia de que outros resolvam seus problemas e, n\u00e3o raro, enfurecendo-se quando contrariado ou frustrado. Tal regra vale tamb\u00e9m, e at\u00e9 de forma mais incisiva, para o amadurecimento da f\u00e9.Recordando de minha pr\u00f3pria experi\u00eancia pessoal, lembro que conheci determinada senhora que n\u00e3o gostava de seu genro, a quem classificava como “um traste”, e dizia orar todos os dias para que sua filha se separasse do mesmo, mas nunca dizia a raz\u00e3o dessa antipatia.Por\u00e9m, ap\u00f3s mais de um ano, acabou por ver a filha n\u00e3o apenas prosseguir seu relacionamento com ele, mas tamb\u00e9m oficializar a uni\u00e3o em cart\u00f3rio.O resultado?Essa senhora abandonou a f\u00e9, dizendo que Deus n\u00e3o era fiel e que n\u00e3o queria mais saber dele.Posteriormente, fiquei sabendo a raz\u00e3o de ela rejeitar seu genro: ele era gar\u00e7om em um restaurante, profiss\u00e3o que ela achava n\u00e3o estar \u00e0 altura de sua filha, professora do ensino m\u00e9dio\u2026 Irm\u00e3os, n\u00e3o vos pude falar como a pessoas espirituais, mas como a pessoas carnais, como a crian\u00e7as em Cristo.O que vos dei para beber foi leite e n\u00e3o alimento s\u00f3lido, pois n\u00e3o pod\u00edeis receb\u00ea-lo,nem ainda agora podeis, porque ainda sois carnais.Visto que campeia entre v\u00f3s todo tipo de inveja e disc\u00f3rdias,por acaso n\u00e3o estais sendo carnais, vivendo de acordo com os padr\u00f5es exclusivamente mundanos? (1\u00aa Cor\u00edntios 3:1-3 – KJA) De fato, h\u00e1 pessoas que, como diz Paulo, se recusam a experimentar o “alimento s\u00f3lido” da f\u00e9, tendo de ficar recebendo sempre o “leite”, por ainda serem carnais, ou seja, por se preocuparem com quest\u00f5es secund\u00e1rias, vaidades e prefer\u00eancias pessoais e ignorarem o cerne do Evangelho: a ren\u00fancia \u00e0s pr\u00f3prias vontades por amor ao Salvador, na certeza de viver eternamente na sua presen\u00e7a na Nova Jerusal\u00e9m. Ningu\u00e9m diz que amadurecer \u00e9 f\u00e1cil, nem na vida cotidiana e, principalmente, na rela\u00e7\u00e3o com Deus.O pr\u00f3prio Paulo, o maior evangelista que o mundo conheceu, teve de ser convertido de forma agressiva por Jesus, que o deixou cego, em jejum por tr\u00eas dias (veja Atos 9:1-30) e, posteriormente, ainda colocou nele um “espinho na carne” (veja 2\u00aa Cor\u00edntios 12:7-10)\u2026 al\u00e9m de todas as afli\u00e7\u00f5es que passou ao longo de seu minist\u00e9rio, tendo sido a\u00e7oitado cinco vezes por ordem das autoridades de seu pr\u00f3prio povo (conforme 2\u00aa Cor\u00edntios 11:24), ficando preso por cerca de 5 de seus 30 anos de minist\u00e9rio e, ainda ao final, morto por execu\u00e7\u00e3o.Por\u00e9m, sem ter passado por tudo isso, ele n\u00e3o teria adquirido a maturidade espiritual que o levou a n\u00e3o negar Cristo sob nenhuma circunst\u00e2ncia! E nem haveria hoje as consoladoras ep\u00edstolas de Ef\u00e9sios, Filipenses e Colossenses, escritas por ele enquanto se encontrava no c\u00e1rcere. Exatamente pela ignor\u00e2ncia de que o processo de amadurecimento na f\u00e9 \u00e9 algo duro e mesmo doloroso, muitos ditos “crentes” se recusam a seguir o caminho de Cristo nos momentos de dificuldade, preferindo esperar apenas pelas b\u00ean\u00e7\u00e3os terrenas e pela permanente realiza\u00e7\u00e3o de seus desejos e, ainda por cima, da forma exata como imaginam que isso deva acontecer!Quem nunca viu algum desses “profetizando” por um carro, uma casa, dinheiro, um emprego, promo\u00e7\u00f5es, reconhecimento, sa\u00fade\u2026 todas essas coisas que Deus n\u00e3o prometeu a ningu\u00e9m que o faria? Nisso, muitos desses “crentes” se assemelham ao personagem de Kevin Sorbo no primeiro filme da franquia “Deus n\u00e3o est\u00e1 morto”, no qual interpreta um professor ateu militante, que acaba sendo desmascarado por um de seus alunos, que prova diante de toda a turma que ele n\u00e3o era na verdade um ateu, mas sim, um revoltado contra Deus pelo fato de o Criador n\u00e3o haver evitado que sua m\u00e3e morresse de c\u00e2ncer quando ele tinha 12 anos: o aluno, muito mais maduro espiritualmente, lhe disse que “\u00e0s vezes, a resposta de Deus \u00e9 ‘N\u00c3O’”. Como foi dito, n\u00e3o \u00e9 f\u00e1cil o processo do amadurecimento \u2014 nem se pode, especificamente, exigir que os crist\u00e3os gostem de passar por ele \u2014 que pode levar muitos a derramar l\u00e1grimas e ficar inconformados, especialmente ao verem que tantos outros, aparentemente, n\u00e3o enfrentam coisas desse tipo.Por\u00e9m, carregar a cruz e perseverar \u2014 mesmo em meio a situa\u00e7\u00f5es dif\u00edceis, dolorosas e desagrad\u00e1veis, e tendo desejos pessoais n\u00e3o atendidos por Deus \u2014 \u00e9 o processo pelo qual todos os<\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[464],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-apologetica"],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":464,"label":"Apolog\u00e9tica"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"Eduardo Pydd Teixeira","author_link":"https:\/\/piorevangelho.online\/en\/author\/eduardo-pydd\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":464,"name":"Apolog\u00e9tica","slug":"apologetica","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":464,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":96,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":464,"category_count":96,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Apolog\u00e9tica","category_nicename":"apologetica","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"trp-custom-language-flag":false,"mailpoet_newsletter_max":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Eduardo Pydd Teixeira","author_link":"https:\/\/piorevangelho.online\/en\/author\/eduardo-pydd\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"H\u00e1 uma cena no segundo epis\u00f3dio da s\u00e9rie original dos Thundercats que, embora n\u00e3o seja espec\u00edfica para os crist\u00e3os, revela algo interessante tanto sobre a vida terrena, quanto sobre a espiritualidade e a rela\u00e7\u00e3o do crist\u00e3o com Deus: (Tygra) \u2014 N\u00e3o esque\u00e7a de levar a Garra-Escudo e a Espada, Lion-O, caso precise nos convocar.(Lion-O) \u2014…","acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/piorevangelho.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/piorevangelho.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/piorevangelho.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/piorevangelho.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/piorevangelho.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/piorevangelho.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17100\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/piorevangelho.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/piorevangelho.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/piorevangelho.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}