Babes in Christ: Carnality, Offence, and the Call to Grow

Spiritual maturity is not measured by how gifted you are. It is measured by how much you love.

This is where many believers get it wrong.

You can be deeply involved in church. You can pray powerfully. You can even operate in spiritual gifts. Yet Scripture is clear: it is possible to remain a babe in Christ, not because you are newly saved, but because you are still carnal.

Paul makes this distinction plainly in 1 Corinthians 3 when addressing the Corinthian church. This was not an ungifted church. In fact, they “came behind in no gift.” Yet Paul tells them he could not speak to them as spiritual people, but as carnal, babes in Christ. Why? Because of envy, strife, and division.

The issue was not power. The issue was maturity.

When Carnality Hides Behind Spiritual Activity

Romans 8 tells us that to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Carnality is not simply about outward sin. It is about being governed by the flesh, by ego, pride, offence, insecurity, and selfish perspective rather than the Spirit of God.

This is where spiritual warfare often shows up. Not in dramatic manifestations, but in subtle offences. In broken relationships. In tension. In the inability to forgive.

You cannot effectively lead in prayer if you are consistently in strife. Intercession requires love. It requires a heart that is free from ongoing offence. If you are constantly fighting people, whether openly or internally, your spiritual authority is compromised. It becomes a breach in the spirit.

Jesus taught us to pray, “Forgive us as we forgive”. Forgiveness is not optional in the life of a believer. It is foundational.

Pressure Reveals Maturity

It is easy to appear spiritual when nothing is pressing you. It is easy to love people in theory. But pressure reveals what is truly in the heart.

When someone insults you, misunderstands you, or challenges you unfairly what rises up? Is it patience? Is it grace? Or is it anger and self-defence?

Most of us have experienced moments where our flesh responded before our spirit did. That is not uncommon. But maturity is revealed in how quickly we surrender that reaction to the Holy Spirit.

Spiritual growth often feels like dying to self. It feels like choosing humility when pride wants to speak. It feels like apologising when you would rather prove your point. It feels like forgiving even when you were clearly wronged.

That is not weakness. That is Christlikeness.

Love Is the Evidence

Jesus said the world would know we are His disciples by our love for one another (John 13:35). Not by our eloquence. Not by our gifting. Not by our church attendance.

Love is the evidence.

And love is not merely an emotion. It is expressed in action. It forgives. It believes the best. It makes allowance for weakness. It seeks reconciliation rather than victory.

1 Corinthians 13 reminds us that if we have spiritual gifts but lack love, we are nothing. That is a sobering reality. It means we can be active, visible, and even admired and still spiritually immature.

Maturity is not how much Scripture you can quote. It is how much like Christ you are becoming.

Offence: The Subtle Barrier to Growth

Offence is one of the enemy’s most effective tools. A divided church cannot stand. A divided relationship cannot flourish. And a divided heart cannot walk fully in the Spirit.

Scripture gives us a clear model. If someone offends you, go to them, not to accuse, but to reconcile (Matthew 18). The aim is restoration, not blame. The goal is to win your brother or sister back.

This requires humility. It requires making allowance for misunderstanding. It requires believing that not every hurt was intentional.

We must also confront an uncomfortable truth: some of us are more committed to being right than to being reconciled. Pride will always choose validation over unity. But the Spirit calls us higher.

Colossians 3 instructs us to set our minds on things above. Spiritual maturity involves becoming increasingly dead to the impulses of the flesh.

A person led by the Spirit is not easily provoked. Not because they do not feel hurt, but because they refuse to let the flesh govern their response.

Stephen, while being stoned, prayed for his attackers. Jesus, on the cross, said, “Father, forgive them.” That is the standard of love we have been called to.

This kind of love is not natural. It is supernatural. And it is evidence of growth.

A Personal Reflection

If we are honest, many of us can identify areas of immaturity in our lives. Moments where pride won. Conversations where we chose defensiveness over humility. Situations where forgiveness felt inconvenient.

The question is not whether we have ever been immature. The question is whether we are willing to grow.

Growth requires intentionality. It requires repentance. It requires asking the Holy Spirit for help not just to speak in tongues, but to reveal the nature of God through us.

Sometimes maturity looks like a simple apology. Sometimes it looks like releasing an offence no one else knows you are holding. Sometimes it looks like initiating a difficult conversation for the sake of unity.

But always, it looks like love.

The Call to Grow

Milk is necessary at the beginning of the Christian journey. But milk is not the destination. God calls us to maturity.

To be carnally minded is death. But to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

The church should be a place where grace flows freely, where relationships are restored, and where love reflects the nature of Christ. That begins with each of us choosing to grow beyond offence, beyond pride, beyond carnality.

The question is simple: Are we babes in Christ?

Or are we becoming mature believers who reflect Him in both power and love?

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