Today
I was encouraged by the way that growing up in Christ gives us an increasingly
comprehensive view of life in the kingdom of God. I see many similarities
between the way God’s people grow up as the beloved children of God, and the
way children grow up in the environment of love created by parents and
caregivers.
From
the time of birth, children begin learning about life one thing at a time.
Initially, they see no connection between the one thing they are learning and all
the rest of what is going on around them. Slowly, as they add more and more
individual things to their understanding of the world they live in, they begin
to know how things work together. Two parents belong together. Siblings belong
to parents. Family belongs to home. Home belongs to family, friends and
neighbors.
I
could go on, but I want to leave this thought to move on to its application in
our spiritual growth in Christ, so I simply want to hold this in our minds: our
journey to maturity involves our view of life becoming more and more
comprehensive as we learn how individual things we are learning fit into the “big
picture” of life.
For
example, immature believers may have difficulty looking at the way justice and
mercy work together in a comprehensive worldview. They may hear a Scripture on
justice, and become fixated on giving everyone what they deserve. Or, they may
find Scriptures about showing mercy and believe we are to be merciful to
everyone no matter how much sin they are promoting in the church.
A
mature believer will understand the way justice and mercy work together within
the body of Christ, with justice shown to believers who are unrepentant, and
mercy shown to those who are repentant.[1] This
is clearly seen in this verse: “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk
humbly with your God?”[2] God requires of us that we work justice and kindness together,
loving them both, applying both as required, in a walk of humility before God
who knows both justice and mercy in a perfection that none of us can yet
comprehend.
The same thought is expressed when Jesus confronted his
enemies among the religious leaders of the day: “Woe to you, scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe
mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the
law: justice and mercy and
faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.”[3] Again, justice and mercy are seen as partners in a comprehensive
view of kingdom-life, with faithfulness standing guard over the two in order to
keep us doing all things without favoritism or partiality.
One
reason we must obey the exhortation of Scripture to be “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond
of peace”,[4] is because each believer’s personal level of maturity is mostly
conditioned by the corporate maturity of the unified body of Christ. The
gathering of God’s people helps the young-of-faith to benefit from the maturity
of the old-of-faith, while the youngsters of spiritual-maturity help to keep
the oldsters sensitive and tender-hearted to the needs of life they might
otherwise forget were there in their own early years.
The thing that mainly encourages me today is the
realization that the word of God continually reveals a comprehensive view of
life where apparently contradictory characteristics like justice and mercy are
actually the best of friends, and live out their unique places in the divine
tapestry in ways that both give greater glory to God in their friendship than
could ever happen when isolated by our immaturity.
With that in mind, today presents another wonderful
opportunity to grow up in Christ, moving from “one degree of glory to another,”[5] in our ever-increasing likeness to Jesus Christ.
Or, as Paul said elsewhere:
Rather, speaking the truth
in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every
joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the
body grow so that it builds itself up in love.[6]
From my heart,
Monte
Monday,
December 16, 2013
© 2013 Monte Vigh ~
Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise
noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible,
English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway
Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)
[1] I Corinthians 5 shows
Paul requiring justice, or church discipline, against a brother who was
unrepentant in his sin, while II Corinthians 2 shows Paul calling the church to
show mercy towards the brother who was now feeling godly sorrow over what he
had done.
[2] Micah 6:8
[3] Matthew 23:23
[4] Ephesians 4:3
[5] II Corinthians 3:18
[6] Ephesians 4:15-16
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