Devotion 1/29, Disciple of Christ
We proclaim [Christ], admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.
In Paul’s admonishing and teaching he warned the unsaved of the awful wrath to come, and he taught the believers the great truths of the Christian faith. His ministry was person-to-person, with a genuine concern for their spiritual well-being. When the apostle speaks of “presenting every man perfect in Christ”, he is not suggesting that we will be sinless in this life. Our standing as believers in Christ before God is already perfect because of the blood of Christ which covers our sin and makes us clean before our Holy God (1 John 1:7).
What he is referring to is our spiritual maturity. Paul did not believe in pointing a person to Christ and then just leaving them to learn to walk in obedience to God on their own (Ephesians 4:11-13). It is much like when our children learned to walk, we didn’t just stand them in the middle of the room and walk off, no, we took their little hands and held them up until their small legs were strong enough to walk unassisted. All the while coaching them with encouragement! We should feel a deep sense of responsibility towards believers to help them grow in their faith and become spiritually strong so they could stand up to the treachery of satan that will surely try to come into their lives.
Dear Father, please forgive me. In my zeal to help others, I have sometimes lost sight of Jesus’ power to change their lives and relied on my own meager resources, understanding, and influence. As I seek to know Christ more perfectly and be like Christ more fully, please use me to lead others to him so they can become like him, too. I pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the name above all names. Amen.
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