Spiritual Maturity

Diligence

If we want to enter into all God has prepared for us, then we must get more serious about this growing up. "But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add..." We cannot be content just to rejoice that we are saved. Praise God that we are saved from sin if we really are, but that is not where we are to stay. That is just the beginning. God has much more for us. God wants us to grow up and enter into His purpose for us in Christ Jesus. That means a diligent, determined adding in our lives, of all of the above virtues. It means there must be progress and change. I must take on the mind of Christ in all things. I must experience God.

So many of us find ourselves just drifting. We are content to gather with the saints and sing a few songs. We have our quiet time. We read the scripture and listen to sermons. We talk about the Lord with our brothers and sisters. We talk to God about many things. We commend ourselves for believing the right things and seeing what is wrong in everybody else. But we are not being changed from glory to glory. We are not progressing in this walk of faith. We are not experiencing God, and worse than that, we are not overly concerned about it. Why not? Would we be concerned if our natural children were not growing? Why is spiritual growth not even more important to us?

Perhaps we are looking at the wrong things, or maybe we have the wrong goals. Has God spoken to us about certain areas in our lives and we have explained away His word to us? May God have mercy on us if we have, for we do not realize the coldness that is setting into our lives. The end of all things is at hand. We are not to be caught up in an emotional frenzy, or to worry, but we are to be diligent. Do we know what that means? God has so much more that He wants to lead us into, but these foundations must be laid in our lives for Him to be able to take us on into the fullness of His purpose. "There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of disobedience" (Heb. 4:9-11). Brethren, let us grow up! The time is short.