THE MEASURE OF MATURITY

He is the one who gave these gifts to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ, until we come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature and full grown in the Lord, measuring up to the full stature of Christ.

Ephesians 4:11-13

TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL LINK

In Touch Ministries - 08/31/06

As the Apostle Paul wrote to the church about spiritual gifts, he described the responsibility of those endowed with leadership gifts. They are charged with equipping the people of the church to serve God and build up the body of Christ. The measure of the success of these leaders is threefold:

• Unity in the faith


• Knowledge of God’s Son


• Christ-likeness (“measuring up to the full stature of Christ”)

God has gifted men and women with the purpose of building His kingdom on earth. That kingdom must be unified, not divided; informed and focused on Jesus, no one else; glorifying Christ, not man. We still have much work to do!