Have you ever met someone who needed to grow up?
It can be frustrating to deal with someone who refuses to grow up and take responsibility for their own development. God wants us to have fun but He also wants us to mature.
Ephesians 4:11-15 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ.
God gave the ministry gifts to help the saints mature and develop into a “perfect” man. The word perfect is better understood as mature. Notice the New Living Translation of this verse.
Ephesians 4:13, NLT until we come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature and full grown in the Lord, measuring up to the full stature of Christ.
God wants us to be mature and full grown in the Lord. This clearly indicates that spiritual growth is a process. No one is “born again” fully grown. We must choose to grow and develop. In the natural, the passage of time will cause you to age automatically. You don’t have a choice when it comes to getting older. However, maturity is different. Age does not make you mature. It simply gives you the opportunity to mature. What you do with your time is the determining factor in your spiritual development.
God wants His church to grow up! Many have been spiritual babies and children for too long. Now is the time for us to press into spiritual growth and development. The time is short and there is lots of Kingdom work that needs to be done. Jesus said, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few (Mat 9:37)”. It is time for the church to grow up so we can labor in the harvest field.
Addressing this very issue, Kenneth Hagin made the following statements in his book, “Following God’s Plan For Your Life”.
“We live in a day when we don’t have time to play church or to fool around with the devil’s games in our lives. The last days are upon us. The end of all things is at hand. Critical years lie ahead of us, for there is a great work to be done and a great harvest of souls to be reaped.
Never has it been so important for us to be free from all that has bound us in the past. Never has it been so crucial for us to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading and for each of us to follow God’s plan for our lives. It’s time to shape up, friends. It’s time to get serious about serving God and to be everything God wants us to be.
As you walk in obedience to God, your past failures and shortcomings which have hindered you from walking in the Spirit won’t be able to keep what the Lord has ordained for you from coming to pass. If you do your part by preparing and obeying, all the carnal plans of man and all the demons in hell won’t keep His plan from being fulfilled. Nothing will be able to detract or offset what God has proclaimed for your life!”
God wants us to get serious about our purpose, calling, and spiritual growth. In order to grow, we must stay in the Word of God, spend time in prayer, and sit under the ministry gifts. Trying to grow without these three is like trying to survive without food and water – it won’t work. The truth is– we all need development. We all have areas where we need to discipline our flesh and renew our mind. None of us have arrived yet. We must all make the quality decision to grow then we must enforce that decision on a daily basis. What you do today will affect your tomorrow. Author John Maxwell summed it up well, “Successful people make right decisions early and manage those decisions daily.”
As 2010 is quickly approaching I want to challenge you to make this year your best year yet! In future blogs we will look at ways to help make this possible—I don’t want to be the same in June as I am now—I want to grow in Christ. Let’s decide to be all He created us to be and make a difference in our world!