The true measuring yard!

Sad but true, we tend to measure how well we are doing as Christians with externals. Examples of these include, titles, church or ministry growth and attendance, comparing ourselves with others, the list goes on.

 But what is the true measuring yard for growth?  Lets have a look at this scripture:

 Ephesians 4: 11 – 12 
11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some,
evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of
Christ:
13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man,
unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of
doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:


Gifts have been given and placed in the church for the some of following reasons:

• For the perfecting of the saints. This tells us that we are all work in
  process.


• Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son
  of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of
  Christ.

If you look at the key word here, it says ‘ till we all come; and continues to state what we are to be attaining too. From this it is clear that nobody is exempt. It also is clear that we are all work in progress as the true measure of growth is ‘unto the measure of the stature of Christ’.


Verse 14 continues by saying, that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro, carried away by every wind of doctrine —– etc. We all know that winds come and go, and so do these doctrines came and go. As we grow up, we will not be moved by these various winds of doctrines according to scripture waiting to deceive.

Verse 15 sheds more light on our true measuring yard. Speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. WOW!!, yes, that is our true measuring yard for growth. Growing up into Him. not into doctrine, or even unto our favourite preacher, but into Him in all things. Growing up into Him, includes growing up in love, prayer, compassion, sensitivity to the things of God, dying to self, humility, being focused on the will of God for our lives, etc. Anything you can see in Jesus is what we should all be growing up into. The final destination is to grow up into Christ. When people see us, they should see Christ. As time goes on in our Christian walk, we should become more and more like Christ. This is what this Lord expects, and this is our true measuring yard.

As Christians, we need to behold Him and grow up more and more like Him. We are all work in progress. The things that used to agitate us last year, should no longer irritate us. Some things that we never used to pay attention too, e.g. being negligent about the things of the spirit, should begin  to take our attention as we grow up in Him.

1 John 4: 16-17
16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love
dwelleth in God, and God in him.
17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

The bible says, “as He is, so are we in this world”. This should include, as He is in love, compassion, etc  so should we be in this world. This will obviously make it much easier for us on that day, because we would have responded to things the way Christ would have responded to them.

His grace is sufficient. The Lord will not tell us to do, what we cannot do. Lets  focus on what really matters in our Christian walk which is, “growing up into Him”.
Author: B. O