Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit.  But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into Him who is the head-Christ.  From Him the whole body, fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building up itself in love by the proper working of each individual part.  Ephesians 4:14-16 HCSB

We expect everything to grow and to progress at a certain rate.  If you were to bring your infant home from the hospital and they did not grow, you would have reason to be concerned.  There is always progress in computers and cell phones.  Every time we turn around there is a new, more expensive phone on the market. By the time you buy your computer there is a better one and it is almost obsolete.

If a contractor comes in to remodel your home and has to rip a few walls out, you want to see progress.  You don’t want to live in a construction zone forever.  They are always doing construction on roadways.  That’s progress, my friend.  They widen our interstates to try to accommodate the growing number of vehicles that are traveling these areas, particularly during busy times like morning and evening.  If you assign someone a task, you want to see progress.

I have been in relationships where there is no progress.  The man is in it for the chase, you get into a relationship, he checks that off his list and moves on to the next project.  I am happy to say this is not the case with my husband.  He works at letting me know I am loved.  And, I am not always so loveable so I know sometimes this is hard work.  As our relationship goes along it grows and progresses.

Some of us tend to check salvation off our list and then show no progression.  I can’t tell you how many times I have seen both young and older people come to church, get baptized and drift off back into the world.  No growth and no progress.  I myself was baptized at the age of 12.  I progressed and grew as a Christian while my mom dragged me to church every Sunday.  But when I got to be a teenager, my Christian growth got stunted.  I figured I no longer needed Sunday School.  By the time I was in my mid twenties, I figured that I could go to church once or twice a month.  I also figured that God would just overlook my sin.

It would take a few years of turmoil and chaos to get me tired enough to want to trade my sinful life for a life of growth and progress with my Savior, Jesus Christ.  Oftentimes calamity and disaster bring us back to the God that loves us.  I’ve been there, done that and got the t-shirt.

As you read this today, I don’t know what stage of the game you are in.  Maybe you have never accepted Christ as your savior.  In John chapter 3, Nicodemus was a Pharisee and a ruler of the Jews.  He knew that God was with Jesus.  He asked Jesus about this.  Jesus told him that a man must be born again of water and the Spirit.  We have a physical birth and a spiritual birth, just as we have a physical death and a spiritual death.  Just as we expect physical progress between the physical birth and death, there must be spiritual progress between the spiritual birth and death.  No matter how beautiful you are, I assure you that God did not call you to be earth décor.  He also didn’t call you to be church décor. He put us all here for a reason.  We all have a job to do.  Our scripture passage today is from Ephesians chapter 4.  The 13 verses prior to our scripture passage speaks of the gifts we have received and the various jobs that God has called us to.

When we fail to grow spiritually, we are also easily deceived because we are not growing in the knowledge of God.

I ask you today to take a look at your life.  Do you need to be reborn?  Have you been reborn, but failed to grow?  Perhaps you were reborn and growing and something happened to halt your progress.  It is not too late to get back to work.  We were meant to grow in Christ.  We were meant to grow in faith and in knowledge.  When we don’t do this, we get off track.  When we get off track, our lives become chaotic and filled with turmoil.  So today, I encourage you to grow in God.  Turn to Him or turn back to Him.  We grow through prayer and bible study.  We grow through the mentorship of fellow Christians that have been where we are.  Won’t you come grow with us today?  Life is all about progress.  There is no better time than now to get started.

Have a great day!