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CONTINUE
TO GROW IN THE LIKENESS OF JESUS (MATURITY)
There's
a song by Amy Grant that expresses the attitude of many Christians:
I
know a man, maybe you know him, too.
You never can tell; he might even be you.
He knelt at the altar, and that was the end.
He's saved, and that's all that matters to him.
His
spiritual tummy, it can't take too much.
One day a week, he gets a spiritual lunch.
On Sunday, he puts on his spiritual best,
And gives his language a spiritual rest.
He's
been baptized, sanctified, redeemed by the blood,
But his daily devotions are stuck in the mud.
He knows the books of the Bible and John 3:16.
He's got the biggest King James you've ever seen!
I've
always wondered if he'll grow up someday.
He's momma's boy, and he likes it that way.
If you happen to see him, tell him I said,
"He'll never grow, if he never gets fed."
He's just a faaa...
He's just a fat little baby!
Wa, wa, waaaaa....
He wants his bottle, and he don't mean maybe.
He sampled solid foods once or twice,
But he says doctrine leaves him cold as ice.
Ba, ba, ba, ba...ba, ba...ba, ba!
The
path of salvation is growth in the Lord. It does not lie in
the performance of individual, isolated events. The emphasis
in the New Testament is on a dynamic, growing faith. When
we first become Christians, we all know how far we are from
being what God wants us to be, and we usually have a fire
to learn everything we can. But somehow in the ensuing years,
we lose that passion and often settle into comfortable complacency.
We're saved, and that's all that matters.
But
the Apostles taught something very different.
And
He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as
evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping
of the saints for the work of service, to the building up
of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of
the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature
man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness
of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed
here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of
doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful
scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to
grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head,
even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held
together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper
working of each individual part, causes the growth of the
body for the building up of itself in love. (Ephesians
5:11-16, emphasis added)
...He
has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so
that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature,
having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.
Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in
your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence,
knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your
self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness,
and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly
kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing,
they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true
knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(2 Peter 1:4-8)
In
these passages, Paul and Peter are addressing Christians.
They make it clear that a major part of being a Christian
is to grow into maturity.
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