Eternity Daily Bible Study No. 156 - The Miracle Of Maturity - Part 1 Received this from a friend? Why not join Eternity Daily Bible Study by sending a blank email to: eternitydbs-subscribe@yahoogroups.com The thirty-one studies on the Kingdom of Heaven have just been compiled into an ebook that can be downloaded (for free) from: http://www.aibi.ph/kingdom/ (Ephesians 3:14-21 NKJV) For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, {15} from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, {16} that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, {17} that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, {18} may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height; {19} to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. {20} Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, {21} to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. It took Jesus three seconds to raise Lazarus from the dead, three days to deal with sin and rise to eternal life and three years to make twelve mature disciples. Learning and maturity is the Great Miracle and is why God has given us of His Holy Spirit : (1 Corinthians 2:12 NKJV) Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. God does not just mean for us to be "saved" but also for us to become wise and loving and responsible, spiritual and mature, for us to become grand resonant beings of truth and light and love that can truly be called "sons of God". I sometimes wonder if it is easier for God to calm the storm on Lake Galilee than to calm that raging nonsense that rattles around in our hearts and minds. As a bible teacher I look at my students at the beginning of the year and hope that they will learn. some do, some don't. They pass their exams but they do not really mature as individuals. Theology A is a great subject - the character of God. Some students are blown away by it and change forever, others treat it as merely an academic exercise in theological point-coring. Judas got the same lessons as Peter - but never matured and turned into a betrayer. Maturity - becoming like Jesus Christ, is the Great Quest, the entire purpose of the Christian life. Miracles such s healing are acts of grace to help us with this quest. Some see the miracles but never learn what it means to live righteously and well: (Matthew 7:22-23 Others see no miracles (such as John the Baptist) and yet grow mightily in God. The greatest of all miracles is the turning of a sinner into a saint. That is why heaven rejoices at one sinner who truly repents. Paul outlines the incredible process of turning sinners into saints who do the good works of God in the first ten verses of Ephesians 2: (Ephesians 2:1-10 NKJV) And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, {2} in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, {3} among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. {4} But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, {5} even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), {6} and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, {7} that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. {8} For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, {9} not of works, lest anyone should boast. {10} For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Paul describes in all our wretchedness - dead, rebellious, alienated, lustful and disobedient, children of wrath. Into this spiritual catastrophe comes the grace of God and we are transformed and made alive, raised to heavenly realms, saved, a new creation in Christ Jesus, made for doing good works. This is not Zen where the distracted mind is focused and spiritual greatness s attained by meditation and exercise. This is grace, we are not just distracted, we are dead. And it is not spiritual exercises but the gospel of grace of the Lord Jesus Christ that transforms us. What monks strive all their life to attain to we can know in minutes through the grace of God. Yet the beginning is not the end. After conversion, after new life, we must grow in holiness, overcome sin and become like Jesus. Holiness is simply the discipline we require to live properly as eternal beings. (Hebrews 12:14 NKJV) Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: This holiness is a great miracle and many see very little of it in their lives. We cannot manufacture it, it is a created within our spirits by God. It starts when we are "strengthened in the inner man". When our inner self starts to become strong under the influence of the Holy Spirit. When we attain some inner certainty and strength, some peace and poise and are no longer "blown here and there". With strength comes faith and the knowledge of God in Christ. As we come to know Christ and He is formed with us we and come to know "His height and depth", the vastness of the holy, the perfection and greatness of God. Finally we live in love. To live in love, with perfect maturity and peace is the ultimate goal of God's work in us. Turning a selfish, complaining, proud, vain sinner into a gracious, loving humble saint is God's greatest miracle. It makes turning water into wine look like a circus trick. God has not saved you so that you can continue to be a pain to all around you but still "get to heaven". God has saved you because He wants to give you a chance at real holiness, a chance to become an eternal son of God dwelling in perfect love and strong and magnificent in mind and spirit. There is a cost to the miracle of maturity. The disciples found out that cost but never regretted it. Its the cost of giving up "self" - that unhappy, whining, complaining part of you that reacts to every slight and insult. You will often be offended by God in order to grow. He will test your reactions, how easily you grumble, how slow you are to trust. You have to give up being "at the center of the Universe" metaphorically speaking. You have to put God at the center and gladly take up the disciplines of holiness (which are not at all related to the disciples of legalism, they are "light and easy" Matt 11:28-30)) . This is long enough, I will write more on this topic tomorrow. Blessings in Him, John Edmiston Asian Internet Bible Institute http://www.aibi.ph/ Free Online Bible And Ministry Training Try our free ebooks on prayer: http://www.aibi.ph/ebooks/ Visit the Eternity home page at: http://www.aibi.ph/eternity/ This devotional may be freely forwarded to others and used for non-profit ministry purposes as long as the following copyright notice is included. © Copyright John Edmiston 2003