To me, growth carries the thought of developing, while basically remaining the same in substance. But change seems to imply putting something in place of another, a replacing with something different. I’m afraid many older Christians, as well as ministers, are mistakenly accused of changing, when actually it is simply maturing. But you’ll never convince the dogged dogmatists of this.
As one advances as a child of God, he or she sees that in reality there are only a few things worth fighting for in the Christian faith. Or at least that’s the way some of we antiquated saints feel. Like my old friend, the late Dr. Tom Malone Sr. used to say, “A bulldog can whip a skunk, but it isn’t worth the fight!” Some people create more stink than anything else.
I have watched through the years those who slander good men who have mellowed in the Lord. They brand them as going soft and compromising. But invariably, you will find these revilers become harder and harder, while those they attack grow sweeter and sweeter. I think it wise to remind ourselves form time to time of Augustine’s words, “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.”
Principle or preference: The latter is not worth defending!
(rds)
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