“In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soul as an offering to the Lord.”
(Genesis 4:3 NIV)
Eve gave birth to Cain and then Abel. Time passed. The boys grew up. Cain gained strength and muscle and mass, but the second Adam failed to mature emotionally and spiritually. Even though Cain and and his brother became full-grown men with careers and responsibilities, Cain still interacted with the world and God as an emotional toddler. He threw tantrums, he was selfish, accusatory and violent.
Believers need to grow up in God. Unfortunately, spiritual maturity is not automatic. Quite the opposite, really. Our tendency is to find the gospel, receive it’s initial grace and barely step any further into it’s truth. We hold our salvation as fire insurance; an emergency policy that will surely cover us when the flames are in sight. We rarely learn to engage with God as Lord and King on a daily basis. We wind up living out our first year of salvation over and over again, rather than growing up in God. As a result of this spiritual stunting, we don’t shed our pettiness, our blame-shifting, our brawling and hatefulness. We stagnate and in our immaturity, we give believers a bad reputation and Jesus a black eye.
For the believer. the passage of time must also result in increasing maturity. Jesus didn’t die on the cross to cover our sins and remain unchanged. He addressed our critical sinful condition so we could re-enter in to transformational relationship with Him. If we aren’t being altered by our friendship with Jesus, then we are missing the point!
Growth in our relationships with the Lord will inevitably produce growth in our relationship with others. When we love God rightly, it shows up in our families, our friendships, our careers and community. Growth is the expected outcome of our salvation experience.
“But grow in the grace ad knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever! Amen.” (2 Peter 3:18 NIV)
When we grow, God gets the glory. Isn’t that awesome? He gets the credit for transforming us from sinners to saints. Why? Because He set the whole thing in motion. Salvation is His good plan: He first conceived it, funded it and followed it through. Apart from His grace, spiritual maturity remains out of reach for humanity.
It occurs to me today that growing up in God may be the most powerful way we can show gratitude for His intervention in our sin situation. I don’t know about you, but I want to live in a way that says “Thank You, God!” over and over again. I don’t know where I’d be without God’s grace; I’m certain it’s a dark and terrible place. My prayer for us today echoes Paul’s prayer for the Philippians; I’m asking the Almighty for ongoing spiritual maturity. May we grow up in Him.
“And this is my prayer: that your love may about more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ – the glory and praise of God.” (Philippians 1:9-11 NIV)
Lord, grow us up. Too often, years pass and we are unchanged, maybe even regressing instead of growing. Please forgive us for our prolonged spiritual immaturity. Today we see that You have called us to so much more than salvation. You have invited us into ever-deepening and transformative relationship with the living God. What privilege! What responsibility! May we fully accept the invite and engage in this holy work with our whole hearts. Lead us toward maturity, Lord. Call us out in our selfish, accusatory and violent behavior. Teach us a better way to interact with You and the world. Restore Your image in us. Amen.