[When available, audio recordings of these devotions are posted at http://www.redeemerclc.info/audio-devotions]
Friday, June 24, 2016
2 Timothy 3:15 ...from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
KEEP USING GOD'S WORD
You are children of God and you are growing up in Christ.
Scripture tells us that we are to, "grow up in all things into Him who is the head -- Christ" (Ephesians 3:15). God the Holy Spirit causes us to grow in the faith by "speaking the truth in love," by avoiding the spiritual junk food of the world and speaking the Truth, i.e., speaking God's Word, holding to that Word, using that Word, using the Sacraments.
By the Means of Grace, the Gospel in Word and Sacrament, the child of God is constantly growing up into the Head, Christ. You are a part of His Body, His Church, and as you are growing in your faith you are growing into a more important part of His body. Following Christ your Head, you are being equipped to function in His Body, His Church, to help carry out the work of the Church, which is to proclaim the Gospel to a dying world. As you proclaim your unity with Christ and His Church, you are becoming adults in Christ.
We become adults in Christ when we arrive at a oneness of faith and knowledge of God's Word, when we, as Paul says in the verse prior to our text, "...all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God" (Ephesians 4:13). That is what you studied for when you publicly affirmed your faith at your confirmation, proclaiming your agreement on the teachings of Scripture, proclaiming the commitment to the truth that has been worked in you by the Spirit through the Word.
With one accord, O God, we pray: Grant us Thy Holy Spirit;
Look Thou on our infirmity Through Jesus' blood and merit.
Grant us to grow in grace each day
That by this Sacrament we may Eternal life inherit.
(The Lutheran Hymnal, 301:2)
