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I remember when my son was very young. A few months after he started crawling everywhere, he started pulling himself up and standing. When he would let go, he would wobble a little bit. My wife would be concerned that he was going to fall and hit his head. I would take him by the hands to help him balance, and then I would pull him gently forward to encourage him to begin to take steps. It wasn’t long before he would walk wherever he wanted as long as he had a good grasp on my fingers. Then I would let him hold something, I would move a few feet away and coax him to take steps by himself. Once he was good with that, he began to walk everywhere he wanted to go.
Imagine what we as parents would do if after all that, our kids decided to go back to crawling. It would be frustrating for sure because walking is the better way to move around. When the New Testament was written, there was an expectation placed on believers. Once they accepted Jesus, they were encouraged to grow and take steps in their faith. Their new life through salvation happened in an instant, but growth took time. To be saved was great, but it wasn’t the goal. Growth was. Moving forward in your faith and deepening it was. Becoming a disciple was. Paul, who wrote more books in the New Testament than anyone, wrote consistently to us that salvation should change how we live, speak and act. His letters were like a parent calling out to a child to let go so they could take steps forward.
Ephesians 5:15-16 says, “So be careful how you live. Don’t live like ignorant people, but like wise people. Make good use of every opportunity you have, because these are evil days” (GNT). Paul is encouraging us to live diligent lives according to God’s ways. We are to be continuously moving towards Christlikeness in our lives. We do that by examining ourselves daily to see what we need to let go of in order to step out in faith. We all have things that we need to let go of in order to live the way God called us to. God is calling out to you to move from where you are to your next step. He wants you to trust Him, to grow, to increase your faith and to walk. Make use of every opportunity to grow that you can. We need deeper faith to guide us in the days we’re living in.
Devotions by Chris Hendrix 