Walking Towards Perfection
Categories: Church of Christ Bulletin ArticlesIn Ephesians 4:1 ESV, the apostle Paul urges his readers to “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called” (we’ve been “called” by the gospel; 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14).
The question we might ask is, “How do we walk in a manner worthy of our calling?” The answer to that question is found in Philippians 1:27 ESV which states:
“Only let your manner of life [conduct – NKJV] be worthy of the gospel of Christ….”
The proper measure of our spiritual condition is the quality of our lives, which is measured by such attributes as lowliness, gentleness, and longsuffering (Ephesians 4:2).
The phrase, “bearing with one another in love” in the above verse, is a good indicator that we are gradually moving toward God’s goal for us — “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13) — that standard of measure that each Christian is to strive for — to possess the same moral character of our Savior — the idea of perfection (see Coffman) — the same goal that Paul was striving towards in his Christian walk (Philippians 3:13-16 ASV – note the word “perfect“ in vs. 15).
Let’s think about it and then keep on “pressing toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14).