Learning to Be Children of God

A feral child is someone who, usually at a very young age and for various reasons (most of them bad), ends up isolated and alone in the wilderness. Animals—dogs, wolves, even monkeys—take them in and make them part of their pack. In every situation, the child becomes less humanlike and develops the habits of the animals they live among. In some cases, they stop walking and start going about on all fours; in others they develop an acute sense of smell. They either never learn how to speak or forget the language they knew. Once discovered, these children always have a hard time reacclimating to society. (This site gives a rundown of some specific instances if you’d like to be more specific: https://listverse.com/2008/03/07/10-modern-cases-of-feral-children/.) Why bring all of this up today? Because it is demonstrably true that during the developmental phases of childhood, humans need some sort of guide. They need help. When we place our faith in Jesus and are born again, we enter into a developmental phase of our faith that will not end until we see Christ again. And until that time, we need help; we need some sort of guide who can lead us, care for us, provide for us, and empower us. And that guide is the Holy Spirit.