SPIRITUAL
ADULTHOOD
Ephesians
4:13-14
“,…until
we all reach unity of the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and
become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed
back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by the cunning and
craftiness of men and their deceitful scheming.”
Did you feel badly for Peter when Jesus scolded him, “Get behind Me, Satan,” in the previous devotion? Failure
Teaches Obedience showed Peter’s embarrassment,
his cheeks red. I thanked Jesus for
choosing Simon Peter as His disciple (Matthew 4:18).
Jesus saw me—and millions of other future disciples in
Peter. We have act-before-thinking
personalities. Lucky for us that we have
our whole lives to grow into spiritual adulthood!
When God saves whoever trusts in Jesus as Lord and
Savior—He equips us with everything necessary to grow into spiritual
adulthood. I confirm that it takes a
whole lifetime to grow into spiritual adulthood! Maybe this devotion will inspire you to beat
me. Maybe you will achieve spiritual
adulthood early in life?
Get ready...Get set…Go!
Spiritual adulthood is a process of transforming
Believers into Spirit thinkers. Naturally,
people are earthly flesh thinkers. Our
frame-of-mind, our point-of-view is based on the natural. What else could it be? When people speak, they talk in their native
language. That language is natural for
them. That language uses words they
think before speaking.
We’re about to learn a new language. A foreign language. Spirit language is foreign to earthly flesh,
our native language. Every
foreign-language teacher urges students to think in the language they’re
studying. After learning words and sentence
structure of that language, students discover that it is possible to think in
that language. Then, students can speak
in that language—and be understood by others who know that language.
That is a challenge.
A good foreign language teacher names the classroom as that country. Only that language is spoken inside the border
of the classroom door.
Take
Home Nugget
Spiritual adulthood represents
thinking in God’s Spirit foreign language.
We learn to see life through Spirit eyes: God’s perspective of
things. His point-of-view. His frame-of-mind. Growing into Spiritual Adulthood takes practice…and
time.
Apostle Peter was on God’s fast-track to grow into
Spiritual adulthood. After only three
years in Jesus’ physical presence, he received the Holy Spirit. Then Peter zoomed! Rate X Time = Distance. Peter spent all his time in Christ
(indwelling Spirit) and grew at an extraordinary rate to Spiritual Adulthood
(preaching and growing Christ’s church).
With practice—like thinking in a foreign language—we CAN
consistently respond and react to earthly things from a Spiritual
perspective.
Speak
to me in Your Spirit, Lord. Let’s
practice every day!
Adapted from “Maturity is a Process.” Dr. Tony Evans. April 28, 2016. The Urban Alternative at LightSource.com.
J.D. Griffith
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