Childlike to Christlike 

I was thinking today about all the children who have just returned to school after the summer holidays, an exciting time for them and an exciting time for their parents, to have them back at school!

 

Our spiritual life is a moving pathway, where we hopefully grow from

a Child-like understanding into maturity.

Our encounters with God help us to grow in faith and character, and hopefully one day, we move towards being Christ-like.

Do you recognize those people who have the essence of being Christ-like? They shine Jesus and seem to be filled with peace and assurance, being with them is always memorable.

 

Spiritual maturity comes to us when we are open to explore and sense God’s Holy Spirit within us. This can be a challenging time, we may have to let go of things and be prepared to take new ways on. Intellectual questions may rear up, our commitment and willingness to be part of the body of Christ may hinder us? Whatever we experience, or gets in our way, it is part of our on-going transformation, the Christ-likeness that Jesus calls us into.

 

Maybe you are starting out on your Christian journey or maybe you have been on it for a while; whatever stage we find ourselves at, we need to be open as children are. This certainly doesn’t mean being childish or immature, but it does mean trusting in God, being aware of his hand on our lives and not allowing our hearts to become hardened by circumstances.

Being thankful and recognizing all that others contribute to our lives is another part of our transformation. We thank God that he has not left us alone but has given us, the Holy Spirit, to guide and teach us

 

It is precisely when we feel we have gained some measure of maturity that we find ourselves humbled and often in a place of weakness.

It is then that our maturity needs to trust in the Holy Spirit, and then

that apparent weakness becomes strength through God’s grace

At the moment in our services we are looking at the work of the Holy Spirit, we may have heard many sermons on the subject but I hope we can all hear afresh God’s deep love for us and his desire for us to live life and live it to the full