INTENTIONAL GROWTH
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
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.
Ephesians 4:15 NLT
TODAY’S THOUGHT
The Father’s will for each of us as followers of Christ is that we become more like Jesus each day. Jesus is the head of the Church, and we are His followers. Our priority should be to daily become more like Jesus.
This requires intentional growth. It means we must work into our lives daily disciplines that move us closer and closer to Jesus. These disciplines should include daily Bible reading, prayer, worship, fasting, times of corporate worship with other believers, regular times of meeting with other believers in small groups, serving others, and giving of our resources for the expansion of His kingdom.
None of us know what the path of discipleship will look like when we first sign up to take this journey. We are like Matthew, the tax collector, who heard Jesus say, “Follow me.” The Bible says immediately Matthew got up and followed Jesus (Matthew 9:9).
Matthew had no idea where that following would take him. He could not have dreamed of the joys of seeing 5000 people fed with five loaves and two fish. He could not have imagined seeing a man who had been dead four days come back to life. He could not have dreamed his name would be in the Bible and the first book in the New Testament would be written by him. Matthew just decided to obey the invitation to follow Jesus. That decision led to daily decisions to do the right thing.
That road for Matthew was not always easy. There were plenty of disappointments. In the end he was martyred for following Jesus. On earth he died but in heaven I believe they threw a big party for Matthew the moment he showed up.
Each person who chooses to follow Jesus will have a different story. The twist and turns will surprise us. But in the end, we will be declared a “faithful servant” because we said yes to follow Jesus.
We are not perfect people. But we are better today than we were last month. And next month we will be more like Jesus than we are today.
TODAY’S PRAYER
Holy Spirit help me in my daily journey to grow into the person You want me to be. Help me to follow Jesus every day so that I can become more like Him.
“Scroll down to share what you feel God is saying based on today’s reading.”
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