How Do You Do That? (Colossians 1:10)

Have you ever seen someone perform some feat that, to you, would be impossible?  Yet, they did it easily.  You may have gone to them and asked, “How do you do that?”  Or, you’ve just established your own home and want to make your grandmother’s famous cake, so you call and ask her, “How do you make that cake we all love?”  She replies, “My, I don’t know. I’ll have to think about it. I’ve been doing it so long that I don’t even give it a thought. Let me think…., What do I put in there? How much? How….It’s, you know…., I just do it.” And you think, “Oh!, that’s a big help!”

Sometimes it can be that way in our Christian walk.  Some Christians have been walking so long it’s hard for them to comprehend why anyone would have a hard time doing the simple things in the Christian life.  But we should all remember how hard it was for us when we first started walking.  Of course, we probably can’t remember that, but we can remember how hard it was for our children or nephews and nieces to start walking.  We even remember that we didn’t expect them to walk the very day they came home from the hospital–it would have been too hard.  We patiently waited until they were strong enough to walk before we coaxed and encouraged and even tricked them into walking.  Now, if you would ask them, “How do you walk?” they would laugh because, “Everyone knows how to walk.  It’s second nature.”

New Christians need careful, meticulous training and help to learn how to do the simple walking in the Christian life.  Those simple things should grow to be “second nature” for every half-mature Christian.  And those of us who’ve been walking for awhile should remember it’s not all that simple if you’ve just come home from being born in the hospital.