Youthful Piety of Christ
Dean Goulburn. Luke 2:40 And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was on him. There are three parts of our nature mentioned in the Bible — the body, the soul, the spirit. "The body" is what the animals have in common with us; it is the part of us in which we feel hunger, thirst, and weariness — the part which is fed by food cud rested by sleep. "The soul" means the feelings and affections; it is the part of us which feels pity for distress, fear of danger, anger at an insult, and so forth. "The spirit" is that higher part of our nature, which makes us reasonable beings; it is by the action of our spirit that we think of God, set Him before us, pray to Him, fear Him, worship Him. It is, then, a great thing to say of any child, and it could only be said of a good and holy child, that he "waxes strong in spirit." It means not that he becomes taller, nimbler, cleverer, but that his conscience becomes more and more formed as he grows up, his will more steady in doing what is right and avoiding what is wrong, his prayers to God more earnest, his sense of God's presence more keen, his dread of sin stronger. Alas! it is the very opposite with children in general. Their conscience, which was once tender, becomes hardened as they get to know more; they soon shake off any dread of sin and the fear of God; their will weakly yields to temptation, until it becomes easy and natural to yield. And it is added, "He was filled with wisdom." The words imply that wisdom kept on flowing, like a running stream, into His human soul; there were, in His case, none of those thoughts of levity and folly, by which childhood is commonly marked. "And the grace of God" (meaning both the favour of God, and the precious influence of His Holy Spirit) "was upon Him." When the sun shines out upon the dewdrops that cover the tender grass of spring in the early morning, how beautiful is each spangled bead of dew, glistening with all the colours of the rainbow t Such was the childhood of the Holy Child! The dews of God's Spirit rested upon Him without measure. And the sunshine of God's favour beamed out upon Him, as "the Child of children," in whom — and in whom alone of all children that had ever been born — God the Father was well pleased. How early can a child love God, yearn towards God, hope in God, trust in God? I cannot say. Probably much earlier than we suppose. Do not the youngest infants stretch their tiny arms, and smile graciously when their mother comes into the room? They are not too young to show that they love and trust their parents; I do not know why it should be impossible for them to love and trust their heavenly Father, especially if He should give His grace to them "without measure," as was the case with our Lord. Perhaps you say, "It is impossible for a child in arms to understand or know anything about God." How can any one be sure of that? It was foretold of John the Baptist, that he should be "filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb"; and if this was the case with him, how much more must it have been the case with the Lord Jesus? Have you one single feeling of affection and trust towards your heavenly Father, as He had? Do you even wish to have some such feeling The wish is something, no, it is much; let it lead you to pray for the feeling, and in due time the feeling will come. If your earthly parents would deny you nothing that is good for you, which they had it in their power to give, "how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?" (Dean Goulburn.) Parallel Verses KJV: And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him. WEB: The child was growing, and was becoming strong in spirit, being filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.