The Measure of the Stature part 1
Knowing and believing is the way this "Christian" life works. And I put that word in paranthesis because I don't think I use it the same way most people use it. To me, "Christian" simply means Christ-like. Which you can't experience unless you know who Christ is. We can say, "As He is, so are we in this world." But if we don't know how He is... that's not super helpful. Not real practical. Look at our key verse for this Rant series, "Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ" (Ephesians 4:13). The unity of faith... is the knowledge of the Son of God. Because you can't believe what you don't know. Faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the Word (which is Jesus, which is love) of God. He tells us, and shows us, who He is. Proves Himself faithful. And that's why, and how, we can put our faith in Him. Faith, as simply as I can put it, is sitting on a chair because you believe it will support your weight. Faith is not hoping for something. Faith is not wishing for something. Faith is the EVIDENCE of things not seen. The SUBSTANCE of things hoped for. Look... hope deferred makes the heart sick. But when the desire of your heart comes, it is a tree of life. Because the desire of your heart is the fruit that grows on that Tree of Life. The fruit of the Spirit. Which is love. The only thing the heart is concerned with... is love. Because it's all about love. Love is all we need. And love is what we have. Because of the finished work of the cross. And don't misunderstand me here--we've always had love. The cross is when the light of the world shined so that we could SEE that love. Jesus said the greatest love a man can have is to lay his life down for his friends. And then He went to the cross and did just that. He put His money where His mouth was, so to speak. Didn't just tell us... but showed us. So that we might know not only what love truly is... but so that we might know how much our heavenly Father loves us. Look at Romans 5:8, "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." When we were at our worst, He was at His best. That's who God is. That's the knowledge of the Son of God that brings us into the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. That's what He has filled ourselves with--Himself. His Spirit. His love. And that's what we can now fill ourselves with. Fill ourselves to overflowing with what we've already been filled with. Believe what we know in that way, in a sense, activate it. Because the truth has set us free and made us free. But knowing and believing the truth is what equips and empowers us to enjoy that freedom. Knowing who Jesus is, is what equips and empowers us to be who we really are. Which is who we are in Christ. Which is who Christ is in us. The measure of the stature of the perfect man, the Son of Man, Jesus... is the true measure of the stature of... us. As He is, so are we in this world. So that behooves us to know who He is. To believe that when we look into the mirror we see Jesus. To believe that He lives in us and we live in Him. That there is no separation between God and man because God lives IN man!