Daily Devotions 30th Sept 2017

Eph 4: 15Speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is Christ.

Paul is teaching on spiritual growth and he compares this to natural growth of little children. Those of us who have brought up our children will remember the different stages of growth and maturity of our children. It is the sole desire of parents to see the growth and intellectual maturity of the children. When they do see how their children are growing both physically and intellectually, it always bring pride and joy to the parents.

Paul says that spiritual parents who have input into the believers would want to see that they grow into spiritual maturity but however this process is not automatic. There must be commitment and efforts pn the part of the believers to want to learn the scriptures and to apply them into their lives.

In this letter to the Ephesians, Paul urges them to not only study the scriptures but also to practice what it teaches. It is only when they apply what they learn in their lives, only then would they be able to grow into spiritual maturity.

When spiritual maturity is attained, it is not only understanding of the word but it is also the manifestation of the fruit of the spirit in our lives which come from the Spirit. The greatest fruit is love, with this Paul says that it would guide and build us into matured believers.

Paul wrote to the church in Galatia on this matter on the fruit of the spirit in Gal 5: 22-23 ‘But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.’ This is very true that when any believer is full of the fruit of the Spirit, then his Christian walk with Jesus would be an exact replica of Jesus’ character.

He would not have outstanding fault or sin in his life. In fact all would see the meekness, love and the same characteristics of Christ in the believer.

This is what Paul is saying in today’s scripture that we will all grow in the stature of Christ and people around us would be able to see Christ in our lives.