Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. (Ephesians 4:14)
Because God’s greatest goal for us is to conform us to the likeness of our Lord Jesus Christ, we must live out the importance of growing up, not just growing old. Think about it this way: I can’t imagine anyone saying they want to be the same person today that they were a year ago. Those who are not committed to growing up in their faith are stuck in perpetual spiritual infancy.
Spiritual growth is not automatic after Jesus has raised us from death to life. Spiritual growth requires that we want to grow, decide to grow, do the work to grow, and persist in growing. This, of course, is a lifelong process that will not be completed until we are brought into glory. And inasmuch as it is all of grace, it will not be completed without our commitment.
We all know about commitment; we are all committed to something. The question is, Are we committed to growing and maturing in the faith? Identifying our commitments will make the answer to that question crystal clear. Here are a few of these indicators: your prayer life; your Bible reading plan; your weekly church attendance; your generosity; your service to the expansion of the cause of Christ; your thought life.
If we are to grow up and become more like Jesus, we must desire to develop the mind of Jesus. We have to think His thoughts, and Paul expressed this commitment beautifully:
Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things (Philippians 4:8).
If we are going to succeed at this, we must be careful about what we are putting into our minds. We must be on guard to fill our minds with the wisdom of God’s Word, not the wisdom of this world. At this level of living, we will be certain that we will not only be growing older, but we will also be growing up.
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
Grace for the Race 