Maturity Of The Church

CALL TO PRAYER

By: Stephen Osei Kuffour

Date: 25.02.2024

Title: Maturity Of The Church

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food.  (Hebrews 5:12 NKJV)

When I was young, I was told that when I lose my baby tooth, I should place it under my pillow when I go to bed that night. While asleep, the tooth fairy comes to collect it and leaves money or a small gift exchange. I believed this story and kept doing such until I grew up to find out that my Mum was the one replacing the tooth with a gift. They did that to us so that we will not be afraid of losing our teeth, but we will rather know that it is part of our growth process.

The truth is that, just as babies go through physical growth process from childhood to adulthood, Christians also go through a similar growth process after they become Born Again (1 Pet 2:2). It is however very important to understand that spiritual growth is not dependent on physical growth. Sadly, most people believe otherwise. The truth is that, you can be physically old in your age but spiritually, you may be a baby. In the same way, you can be young in your physical age but be spiritually mature.

I can boldly say that spiritual growth does not also depend on how long you have been a Christian. One can rise within the Church ranks and even become a leader of a huge congregation but still be spiritually immature. It is also very important to understand that spiritual growth is a continuous process. This is because there is more in Christ and let’s therefore not be deceived to think that we have reached a point where we can’t grow again.

The Lord wants His children to reflect Him in their character and therefore, He expects us to grow to become more like Christ (Rom 8:29). He also expects us to grow so that we can teach and help others in their growth process (Heb 5:12). Therefore, to be spiritually mature is to grow in your love for God and others. It is to grow in our faith, hope, obedience, humility, giving, forgiveness, and knowledge of the Lord. Most importantly, it is to grow so that we bear the fruit of the Spirit continuously in our lives (Gal 5:22).

As Christians, we have a lot of inheritance and weapons in Christ (Eph 1:11, 2 Cor 10:3-5). Until we grow, we will not be aware of them. Even if we become aware of them, we will not know when and how to effectively use them (Gal 4:1). I can say for a fact that most of the problems we have in the Church are as a result of immaturity. There is therefore a need for the Church to grow spiritually.

How do we achieve this? Just as good food makes us grow physically, the true word of God also makes us grow spiritually (1 Pet 2:2). I stressed on “true” because eating bad food will not make you grow but rather make you sick. Let’s therefore study the word of God regularly and be doers of it (Js 1:22). Let’s also find a good Bible-believing Church to attend or listen to their messages. Praying in tongues also helps to build you up spiritually (Jude 1:20).

Beloved in the Lord, God expects His children to reflect His character by growing in our love for Him and for others. Maturity of the Church will also help resolve a whole lot of issues within the Church. We can achieve this by feeding ourselves with the true word of God, living by the word and also by praying in tongues regularly.

Prayer Point:

Let’s thank God for His word today. Let’s ask the Lord to help the Church to grow and mature spiritually.

God bless you all