"A Mature Christian is easily edified"
A profound statement recently stopped me in my tracks: “A mature Christian is easily edified.”
This is, I believe, a proper and fitting goal of our Christian discipleship.
Because far too often, don’t you find yourself being:
too easily offended (by others)
too easily distracted (by technology)
too easily frustrated (by the demands of the day)
too easily stressed out (by the busyness of life)
too easily irritated (by your family)
What exactly would a believer’s life look like who is “easily edified’?
A believer who is “easily edified” would be falling more in love with Jesus, amazed by the grace and mercy of God. “God has been so faithful to me!”
A believer who is “easily edified” would experience the full repertoire of “psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs” (Eph. 5:19) as all avenues to worship: “God is so quickly praised and thanked in my life!”
A believer who is “easily edified” would drink deeply from the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation: “The full counsel of God is like living water to my desert-like parched soul!”
“A mature Christian is easily edified.”
Yet, what is true for our individual lives of discipleship is also true for living in community as the body of Christ:
The critical spirit who likes things “my way” in the church would slowly be choked out.
The church consumerism in all of us would slowly be wrestled down to the ground.
An “easily edified” community of Christ-followers would begin to say things like: “You know what? I can be blessed by whoever is preaching. I can encounter God through whatever songs we sing today and whoever is leading worship.”
“You know what? I’ve learned that even though I don’t agree with every decision of the church’s leadership, I am becoming more generous in my praise than in my complaints. In fact, I trust that the elders and staff are seeking the mind of Christ, and I’d want to be shown the same level of graciousness if I was in their shoes. In the end, I am purposely refraining from gossiping about my church’s faults and shortcomings and intentionally finding more ways to celebrate the faithfulness of God in my church.”
“A mature community of Christ-followers is easily edified.”