Ephesians 4:14 “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;”

Here we see Paul is telling the Ephesians (and us) that we as Christians need to grow up because otherwise there are consequences. Like children, due to the lack of maturity, young Christians are easily influenced by wrong doctrine and deceptive religious leaders and authors.

My father in law has told such stories of how as a young married couple he and my mother in law were easily deceived shortly after their conversions. He describes how that once saved by God’s grace, they had such a hunger for the Word of God that they reached out to a number of organizations seeking to be spiritually feed. Unfortunately most of these organizations begged for money, and lots of it, yet provide at best spiritual pabulum and at worst outright heresy. It was when, again by God’s grace that they began to attend a solid Bible Believing church that taught them the Word of God where spiritual grow began to blossom within their lives. This initial growth embedded within their hearts a spiritual discernment enabling them to rightly divide the Word of God for continued and sustained growth to maturity. If you asked either one of them today if they believed that they were spiritually mature Christians they would say as Paul says, “I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13-14 ) but the evidence of their maturity is exemplified in the hundreds, yeah thousands individuals they have personally influenced, mentored and discipled towards the Word of God and righteous living.

While part of us wants to live in a “Peter Pan” world of never growing up so that we can ignore accountability, Paul is reminding up that this kind of thinking will only hurt our walk with the Lord. I would also add that not only will this affect your life but also the lives of those around you. If I as a parent refuse to grow in the Lord, and have little to no desire to search the Scriptures, the potential negative effect on my wife and children could be devastating.

So how are you, how am I doing on our spiritual growth chart? Yes, some people grow faster or mature sooner than others but the question is; are you growing in the Lord? When my kids were little my wife used to mark the wall to see how much each of them had grown, some looked like they never grew and we only really noticed it when we made that new mark on the wall. And of course if we left it for each child to do their own measuring, seldom if ever was it accurate. So what about you? When was the last time you “marked the wall” of your spiritual life? Do you, do I attempt to measure ourselves or do we allow ourselves to be measured against the ruler of God’s Word? Why not take some time today to “mark the wall” and see how you’re growing, you just might surprise yourself.