Freedom to Mature

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God

There are two concepts that determine victory and fruitfulness in the life of a Christian. The first concept is maturity. Paul wrote: "We are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ . . . to a mature man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:15, 13). We aren’t on our own here as God has given us everything we need to grow to maturity in Christ (See 2^nd Peter 1:3). But the enemy is opposed to our maturity and will do anything he can to keep us from realizing who we are and what we have in Christ.

The second concept is freedom. Again, Paul wrote: "It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1). This verse not only assures us that God wants us free, but it also warns us that we can lose our freedom by returning to the law—“being subject again to a yoke of slavery.”

Before we received Christ, we were slaves to sin (Romans 6:16). But because of Christ's work on the cross, sin's power over us has been broken (1st John 3:8). Satan has no right of ownership or authority over us, but he is committed to keeping us ignorant of that.

He knows he can make us ineffective if he can deceive us into thinking that we are nothing but a product of our past—subject to sin, prone to failure, and controlled by our habits. As long as he can confuse us and blind us with his subtle lies, we won't be able to experience the freedom, which is our inheritance.

While I don't believe in instant maturity, I do believe in instant freedom, and I have seen hundreds of people set free by the truth. Once a person is free, you’d be amazed at how quickly he or she can mature!