Rather, living the truth in love, we should grow in every way into him who is the head, Christ, Ephesians 4:15 NABRE
Paul in this section of the letter to the community at Ephesus speaks about the purpose of ministry, that we are called to grow in maturity, in fact we are called to become Christ. Paul says, “we all attain to the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the extent of the full stature of Christ,” (Ephesians 4:13) Growth and maturity mean living truth. Paul also mentions what we should not become; infants, tossed and swept along by every wind, every trick from those who are cunning and want to deceive. We seem to see this type of behavior more and more today. Joseph Ratizinger calls it relativism “which does not recognize anything as for certain and which has as its highest goal one’s own ego and one’s own desire.” Truth isn’t truth today, truth is what we want it to be. Paul wants us to live truth and do so with love, growing into the head, Christ. Jesus is the model for our growth into Christ. We are to change, to put others first, to put ourselves second. Jesus lives for others, He grew into His role as Christ, the Messiah, sent by the Father to do the will of the Father, so that all might have their fullest life. We are called to live in the same manner. We grow the more we are willing to give away. It allows us to become the church, a collection, the “one body” all for all.
We cannot succeed on our own. This individualism that seems to be at the heart of western culture eventually will destroy everyone. We cannot live well while others suffer and have need. If we don’t see others as a sister or brother, we aren’t church, we are infants, tossed and tricked into thinking our success means something.
Are you tricked by relativism? Do you desire to grow into Christ?
Jesus lives for others, He grew into His role as Christ, the Messiah, sent by the Father to do the will of the Father, so that all might have their fullest life. We are called to live in the same manner. Click To Tweet#bible’#godisgreat #jesus #christianity #dailybibleverse @youversion #BeAnEncourager #growth #truth #Paul #everybodyalways #god #jesuschrist #jesussaves #godisgood #dailydevotion #biblestudy #scripture #bibleverse #verseoftheday #pray #prayer #goodnews #loveeachother #godisgreat #thisVineyard #youversion #everythingalways