When I was around 15 my dad asked me if I remembered what I said I wanted to be when I was, like 5 or something. Of course I didn’t remember so he told me. I wanted to be a fireman. I actually don’t remember ever saying that and to this day cannot figure what I would have ever liked about the position except that firemen are always looked at as heroes. No other emergency organization runs into situations when everyone else is trying to get out. Firemen (and now women) are uniquely trained to deal with the heat of fire, the pitfalls of flames, and the dangers of falling structures. For this reason many of us have a lot of respect for the men and women of the fire departments in our local municipalities. We don’t actually see ourselves doing what they do, but we like the fact that someone is trained to do what they do, God forbid, we ever have need of their services.
We all have people that we have wanted to pattern our lives after, whether it was because we want to be like them, or learn to perform in their vocation. These people become vicarious mentors for us as we set goals for ourselves in our schooling, in relationships, in our physical development. We see what they have done, and we try to follow in their shadow. Last week, I asked in Facebook, “What music star did you secretly want to be like when you were a kid?” and the responses were pretty funny considering what many of those who responded are doing today. We see people all the time and want what they have without, many times, considering what it would take to get there. Are you ready to deal with the fire of rejection, the pitfalls of bad decisions, and the dangers of crumbling relationships?
Ephesians chapter 4, verse 15 & 16 says “
But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.
We must grow to be like Christ. Make Christ your goal. He will give you (us) what we need to be able to grow into the people he has created us to be. You (we) have been given gifts and talents to be able to work in this world and make a positive impact for Christ; but it is you that has to make the decision to go after him fully. For many of us, that decision doesn’t come until after we’ve been burned, or had to deal with our lives falling down all around us. I thank God for a Savior who would run into the burning building that is my life just when I was ready to give up because I couldn’t see my way out. I thank God for a Savior who would put on the flesh of humanity and feel the flames of human hatred when I felt like giving up. I thank God for a Savior, who, when everything around me was falling apart knew how to keep my safe.
Today make your decision to grow up.
