The spiritual zeal and enthusiasm of those new to the faith often put to shame those who have been Christians for a long time.

Most Christians, according to the promise of God’s covenant, are born and raised within the sphere of the Church.  But God does not call all of His people from the line of the generations of believers.  When He blesses the work of church extension and missions with positive fruit, then there is brought into the visible Body of Christ those who are young in their own faith.  They have come to the realization of their salvation and to a knowledge of and appreciation for the beauty of the Reformed faith later in life as adults.  The result is that the visible Church is a gathering together of those who are early in their spiritual life along with long-time Christians.

It is often the case that those who become Christians later in their life are characterized by a greater than usual amount of godly zeal.  This is because their previous experience was one of spiritual starvation and of confusion.  When they finally find the beautiful and comforting truths of the sovereignty of God’s grace, they are ecstatic.  Their joy is similar to the shepherd who found the lost sheep (Luke 15:5-7), the woman who found her lost coin (Luke 15:9), and the father of the returned son (Luke 15:32).  The experience of finding the riches and richness of the truth of the Reformed faith and of knowing for the first time the undaunted assurance of their salvation gives a foretaste of the joy unspeakable and full of glory.  This truth and experience is the source of their greatest joy and comfort in this life.  Such is the case for every believer, but especially for those who know the fear of hell without hope or help.

And these cannot be silent.  They will speak of it as often as they can and with whomever they can.  They eagerly present these new-found truths to their friends and relatives.  They avidly read all the materials they can obtain.  The highlight for them is the attendance of worship services where their joy is fueled by the preaching and by the fellowship of the saints.  It is usually obvious that a high priority is given to religion in the life of the new Christian.  In sum, they are zealous with a first love.

These new Christians with all their zeal are an important part of the Church.  They give the other believers reason to pause.

There are always dangers and snares which the devil sets before the people of God.  And the constant danger for those who have grown up or are growing up within the covenant and of the Reformed faith is the presumption of faith and taking for granted the preciousness of the truth.  Church attendance is only a habit; the name of Jesus is like any other name; prayer and devotions are neglected; busyness with this life is consuming.

In those who are new to the faith there is a zeal which can be coveted.

On the other hand, those new to the faith also face the snares and temptations of the devil.  One temptation is to become proud when they see the lukewarmness (either real or imagined by contrast) of those raised within the sphere of the truth.  Hasty and harsh judgments can be made which lack in charitable understanding.  Another snare of the devil is discouragement when they find their extreme joy vaporizing like the morning dew before the hot sun of time and trials.  Their faith is young and will be often tested by which process the Lord brings their faith to greater strength and maturation.  Like a child, their faith can quickly take extreme swings.  They can covet the stable strength of the life-long, spiritually mature saint.

There is a perspective to be gained by both the new and the long-time Christian.  Everyone with faith (with any amount of faith) is admonished not to think of themselves more highly than they ought to think, but to think soberly, according as God has given to every Christian the measure of faith (Romans 12:3-5).  Obviously one who is sober has a correct grasp of reality.

The sober-minded person is mindful of the horrible corruption of his human nature, the greatness of God’s mercy and grace to save him, the fierceness of his spiritual welfare, and the longing for the perfection of the heavenly kingdom.  He sees himself as being essentially no better and no worse than any other Christian.  He realizes the continuous need he has for Christ, a need which God often fills by means of fellow saints.  Also the sober-minded Christian knows that God, in His infinite wisdom, is pleased to have the Church to be made up of different kinds of members, all of which are important and necessary for the function of the body as a whole and for the well-being of each individual member.

In many passages of Holy Writ the heavenly Father places upon His children the calling of doing everything they can to edify their spiritual brothers and sisters for the sake of the cause of Christ in the world.  Romans 14:1-15:8 has much to say about the treatment of one who is weak in the faith by those who are strong.  I Corinthians 10:28-33 and Galatians 6:1-4 point out the responsibility of the believer always to keep in mind his weaker brother or sister.  And Philippians 2:1-11 urges each Christian to walk in lowliness of mind esteeming others better than themselves, which was the mind of Christ when He became a man, the servant of men, and died the cruel and shameful death of the accursed cross.

From these passages we can only conclude that every Christian has enough weaknesses to warrant great humility.

Sometimes and with regard to some things, the new Christian is stronger.  At other times and with regard to other things it is the life-long Christian who is stronger.  Usually the long-time Christian has the stronger faith.  He should!

Thus every Christian is conscious of his need for and dependence upon other Christians.  The long-time Christian is very conscious that he can learn from the young Christian’s zeal of first love.  And the younger Christian will be equally aware of the fact that he can learn from the life-long Christian’s great knowledge and experience.  With each saint esteeming the other better than himself, the Church of Christ will be edified and God will be glorified.  Then there will be peace (Psalm 122:6-9).

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus!

Think not of yourself more highly than you ought to think!

Esteem others better than yourself!

And may every Christian, young and old, be greatly zealous of good works, motivated by gratitude for so great a salvation.

A distinction must be made between spiritual youth and spiritual immaturity.  Usually these are identified.  Often they can be, but not in every case.  It is not always the case that those who are young in the faith are immature in their faith.  On the other hand, we note with sadness that it cannot always be said that those saved for a long time (their lifetime) are mature in the faith.  (There are saints who are strong in faith and saints who are weak in faith.  Most often the weakness is for a certain time or with regard to a certain subject, but sometimes this weakness is true for all of one’s life.)