When we look closely at Scripture we see that God always looks for His children to continue growing closer to Him, and consequently, becoming more  and more like Him.  He gave us everything we need to grow:  His Word as found in the Bible (2 Tim. 3:16), other people who can help to sharpen us spiritually (Prov. 27:17), and most importantly He gave us the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth (John 16:13).

      Ephesians 4:14-15 tells us “that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head–Christ”.

Further, the apostle Paul gave us a glimpse into the motivation and end-goal of his preaching and teaching when he said “We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ.” (Col. 1:28)

The apostle Peter gave a similar sentiment by saying “But continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory, now and forever! Amen.” (2 Peter 3:18)

From these and many other passages of Scripture we see that there is an end goal of being spiritually complete and that there is a process of growth and maturity which brings to the point of Growing Up into Christ.  Next week we will look at what being complete in Christ really looks like.