YOUR TRUE MEASURE OF CHRISTIAN MATURITY

Ephesians 4:13; Hebrews 5:8_

There is a way believers measure growth that is not always the way heaven measures it. Some people measure maturity by how many years they have been in church, how much Scripture they can quote, how many meetings they attend or how many spiritual experiences they have had. Those things have their place, but they are not the final proof of maturity. Ephesians 4:13 points us toward _“the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.”_ That means God is looking for Christ formed in us. In the teaching on the spirit of sonship, I want you to understand that your Christian growth is seen in how much the spirit of sonship is possessing and ruling your life. The devil knows Scripture, but he is not a son. Knowledge that does not produce the nature of Christ can leave a person informed but still immature. Don't confuse exposure to truth with transformation by truth.

The true test comes in your responses. How do you react when you are corrected? What happens when your will is crossed? Can God instruct you and you obey without argument? Can you serve when nobody notices? Can you submit to divine order without feeling reduced? Hebrews 5:8 says concerning Jesus, _“Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.”_ If Jesus, the Pattern Son, expressed sonship through obedience, then we cannot separate maturity from obedience. Spiritual maturity is not the ability to sound deep; it is the ability to increasingly respond like Christ. A mature son does not need to be forced into every right response. The nature formed within him begins to govern how he handles pressure, responsibility, relationships, correction and opportunity. The more Christ is formed in you, the less your flesh should have the final word.

Stop using activity as your only evidence of growth. You may be busy in church and still be resisting the very dealings that would mature you. You may know doctrine and still insist on your own way. I want you to ask yourself a more serious question: how much of Jesus has been formed in me? The goal of sonship is not to produce religious people who know what to say; it is to produce sons and daughters whose lives carry the nature of the Father. Let God work on your reactions, motives, obedience, humility and attitude to authority. Allow the spirit of sonship to move from seed form into expression. Your greatest testimony is not that you have been around spiritual things for many years, but that the Father can point to visible growth in the nature of Christ in you. Make that growth your deliberate pursuit.

_What evidence of the nature of Christ can be seen in my present responses? Are there areas where I have gained knowledge without allowing the truth to change me?_

PRAYER: 

_Father, let Christ be fully formed in me. Deliver me from merely knowing truth without becoming like Jesus and cause the spirit of sonship to rule my responses and conduct, in Jesus' name. Amen._

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 

_Jeremiah 2:31-4:18, Colossians 1:1-17, Psalm 76:1-12, Proverbs 24:21-22_