Articles
Growing Up … INTO CHRIST!
It may seem that my rallying cry of late is for us as Christians to “grow up”. I take comfort
in the knowledge we have of the apostles with the same rallying cry. In his letter to the
Ephesians, Paul challenged the church “to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head…”
(Eph. 4:15). He even went so far as to say one of the reasons for teachers, preachers, elders, and
apostles was for the very purpose of helping the church mature “to the fulness of Christ” (4:11-
13). But he didn’t just challenge the church in Ephesus. His words are shared with many of the
early churches. To the Corinthians, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the
glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from
the Lord, the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:18). To the Galatians, he explained his transformation, “I have
been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me;…” (Gal. 2:20).
The apostle Peter knew the importance of Christians “maturing” in their faith, when he wrote
regarding the “Christian graces”, “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 Pet.
1:5-8).
The apostle Paul did not stop with just the instruction of “growing up”. He also explained
the type of “growing up” on which we should focus. He said to “grow up in all aspects into Him
who is the head, even Christ,…” When writing to the church in Philippi, He gave a wonderful
example of how we can “grow up into Christ” when he shared, “Have this attitude in yourselves
which was also in Christ Jesus,…” (Phil. 2:5). To what attitude was Paul referring? Verses 3 and
4 explain to “do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one
another as more important than yourselves;…” He went on to share how “Jesus emptied
Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant [slave], being made in the likeness of man” (2:7). In
our haste to accept the wonderful grace of God, we may forget that Jesus emptied Himself of the
equality with God, lived on this earth as a servant, suffered at the hands of mankind, so that you
and I might enjoy the blessings of God which lead to eternal life.
I fear my “growing up in the Lord” falls terribly short when comparing with the sacrifices of
Jesus. It must be disappointing to the Lord to see His children bickering over so many things
which just aren’t that important. And worse, so much of the bickering is based on our own
personal preferences and the lack of growing up into Christ.
Oh, Lord, have mercy on us as we struggle to grow up into the image of Jesus Christ,
putting aside our own personal interests, so that we may truly be one in You. ~P. Mowrer
