Ephesians 4:11-13
My background is sales, and it seems as if I been selling
something most of my life; as a small child, I was selling mom that I could
climb the mesquite tree in the circle across from our house without breaking my
neck. As I got a little older, I
was selling my brother and his friends that I would not tell mother or dad what
they did or said, or where they went.
As a teenager I was trying to sell my friends on the fact that I would
back them up in case things turned out bad, I’m not sure anyone believed that,
most of all me. Then I sold Jan on
marrying me and I got a job in sales with 3M Company and I began to learn how
little I knew about the art of selling.
To be good, not great, but just above average, requires training, lots
of training. Selling was no
different in regards to training than any other profession that a person wanted
to be exceptional at.
Why would I believe that anyone and especially myself could
live the Christian life without training?
The apostle Paul tells us that God “gave us
apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip the
saints for the work of the ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until
we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of
God, . . .” Why would anyone believe they could live the Christian
life? In John 10:10, we are given
some very important information; there is a thief who is out to steal and kill
and destroy; but the Christ who you have entered into a personal relationship
with has come to give you life, and give it to the full. If the new believer is not trained to
understand that he has entered into a war, a war with cosmic powers of darkness
in the heavenly places, they will be religious and defeated in this life, and
of no value to king Jesus or His kingdom.
How can a person put on Christ, or how can a person be
trained to abide in, trust in, depend on, look to and fall in love with Jesus
Christ? Galatians 3:3 helped me
understand that the Spirit of God is my source. Major Thomas often said; “I can’t, and God never said I
could, He can and He promised He would.”
Look to Jesus, not to man, not to a
Priest or Pastors, and surely not to self. God has promised to lead you by His Spirit into all truth,
and He has spoken that His word (the Bible) is truth. Next, we must put off the past, our childish ways, always
wanting our way, and God addresses that in 1Corinthians 13:11, and goes on to
explain why in 1 Corinthians 14:20.
As we grow in knowledge of God we come to a clear understanding that
maturity is not getting smarter or stronger in ourselves; it is becoming more
like a small child in dependence on the mighty hand of the Father and His love
for us. It is coming to and
understanding that God loves me and I will find life only in Christ.
A person will find that you never get fully trained, and
often the first warning is to believe you are mature enough to take on the
thief, or try to live outside of total dependence on Christ. We are told in Hebrews 15:14 that the
mature constantly trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. Proverbs 4:23 states; “Above all else guard your heart, for it is the
wellspring of life.” The
war is for your heart; guard it, for it is the heart that has the ability to
rest in Christ.
From the Back Porch,
Bob Rice
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