Grow Up!

Last night in church we focused on our CRAVINGS, our hunger for the junk food of this world when what we really need is the pure spiritual milk. The service was built around this verse:

1 Peter 2:2-3(NIV) "Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good."

I got a lot out of the message and our discussion of it afterwards in community group but what really caught my attention and made we want to dig a bit deeper into the Word was the notion of "growing up in our salvation." How many times through the years have I heard "GROW UP!" and even occassionally still today when my wife catches me in a "maturity-lapse" I hear it from her. But does growing up in our salvation differ from growing up in general? For instance, part of growing up is taking responsibility for one's actions. But in the case of my salvation, Jesus already took on that responsibility and paid the price in full for all my sins, even those I've yet to commit, with his death upon the cross. So just how does one "GROW UP" when it comes to one's salvation? Well, time to let scripture interpret scripture:

Ephesians 4:7,11-13 (NIV): "But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it... It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ"

Colossians 4:12 (NIV): "Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured"

Philippians 3: 14-16 (NIV): "I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained"

Hebrews 5:14 (NIV): "But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil."

James 1:2-4 (NIV): "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything"

Growing up in general means taking on our own identity, separate from that of our parents and peers. Growing up in salvation means, as the Philippians 3 passage above states, "living up to what we have already attained." It is "standing firm" not in our own will, but "all the will of God." It is about serving others and perservering, about attaining "the whole measure of the fullness of Christ".

You see, when we grow up, we become ourselves, we gain an independent identity. When we grow up in salvation, we completely lose ourselves in Christ Jesus and have no identity apart from that of Jesus.

God, I hear you telling me to "GROW UP!" I ask that you equip for the journey ahead, as I go out to lose myself in Jesus.