Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of images and lyrics from the group 4Him singing… The Basics of Life … poignantly declaring in song that we need to get back to the basics of life taught in God’s word.
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Highlight Verse[s]: Ephesians 4:14-15 [NLT] … 14 Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. 15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.
… Growing in Christ means growing within ourselves and being able to relate with others as He would.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Ephesians 4:11-16 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… As we grow in Christ, Paul helped fellow Christians see that their view of themselves would grow as well.
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Reference Passage [NLT] : … Galatians 5:22-23 [NLT] … 22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
… Doing a self inventory of these Spirit-imparted fruit periodically is a good way to determine whether one is growing in Christlikeness.
Reference Passage [NLT] : … 2 Timothy 3:16-17 [NLT] … 16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.
… The degree to which we consume God’s truth (i.e., His word) is the degree to which we’ll grow in our fruitfulness and effectiveness as Christians.
Reference Passage [NLT] : … Hebrews 5:12 [NLT] … 12 You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food.
… Our surrender of self to our Lord and His truth has every thing to do with how we grow in Christ.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Cindy Hess Kasper, used an illustration of a child who changed in her view of herself as she learned the basics of life in school. The ODB author wrote: On her first day in preschool, young Charlotte was asked to draw a picture of herself. Her artwork featured a simple orb for a body, an oblong head, and two circle eyes. On her last day of preschool, Charlotte was again directed to draw a self-portrait. This one showed a little girl in a colorful dress, a smiling face with distinct features, and a cascade of beautiful red tresses [see photo]. The school had used a simple assignment to demonstrate the difference that time can make in the level of maturity.
If a reader has taken the ODB author’s clear word picture, I hope we all realize that how we see ourselves and how we relate to others as Christians has everything to do with how we consume and feed on God’s truth (i.e., the Bible). So, I hope all of us are asking ourselves just how much we feed on God’s word EVERYDAY; and also just how much we’ve changed because of its influence.
A mentor, years ago, taught me one good way for Christians to do a self inventory of Christian maturity. Periodically, he had me go to Galatians 5:22-23, Paul’s listing of the fruit of the Spirit, which is actually a listing of the characteristics of Christ. So, then, he had me ask myself if I had seen myself growing or changing in fruitfulness and Christlikeness in the past months since my last self inventory. And if I felt that I needed growth in one or more of the fruit, he exhorted me to go deeper into God’s word and do what Phillips, Craig, and Dean sing in the linked song … to “go back to the basics” of Christian living.
My Prayer Today: Abba Father, … King Jesus, … Dear Lord, … Help me grow to be more like You today … and even more tomorrow! … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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