So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. (Ephesians 2:19–21)
Rereading these verses from Ephesians speaks to me today. I
have been looking back over my life and wondering if God has used me for
anything important. I’ve also been impatient with myself for being so slow to
grow in spiritual maturity. However, these verses refer to a building, a vast structure
that is not built overnight.
The author of today’s devotional points out that the book
of Acts did not occur in a short time. Watching television tends to make us
assume all the great problems can be solved in 30-60 minutes, and that we can
have instant success. Yet Paul’s first missionary journey took place about seventeen
years after Pentecost. These first believers were gradually equipped, not sent
out soon after their salvation. It takes time to become what God wants us to
become.
This was true of Moses. He was forty years old when he
left Egypt, and then spent forty years in the wilderness before God appeared to
him in the burning bush and sent him to deliver His people from bondage. As
Stephen preached in Acts, Moses was in training, “in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him
at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us.”
He also pointed out to his hearers that, “Our fathers refused to obey him, but
thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt, saying to Aaron,
‘Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from
the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’” (Acts 7:35–40)
This is reference to the human tendency to not listen to
godly leaders, Moses then and Jesus later. Those who were guilty of neglect did
not grow in their knowledge of God and did not become like Christ.
However, some did listen. The believers at Colosse were
commended for doing so. Paul told them, “We
always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,
since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for
all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have
heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as
indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does
among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth,
just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant.”
Because of their obedience, Paul was burdened to pray that
they increase. He told them, “We have not
ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his
will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner
worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and
increasing in the knowledge of God . . . .” (Colossians 1:3–14)
Paul had the same thing in mind for the Christians at
Thessalonica: “We ought always to give thanks
to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing
abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing.” (2
Thessalonians 1:3)
The point of this is that Christian growth is important,
but not speedy, nor does it happen automatically. I’m happy that I’m getting
great teaching from our current church and the theology courses I’m taking, but
sad because I’d not been offered in the past forty years what I’ve learned in
the last two. Yet I do understand that the Christian life starts with
kindergarten, not post-graduate school.
If I can pass anything on to the next generation it is
this: Listen to godly leaders and seek wisdom and understanding. Seek Christ in
everything and grow in the grace and knowledge of Him, but don’t be impatient —
because the subject matter is vast and limitless, learning all there is to know
will not happen in a lifetime, even in an eternity!
