GREG CRUM

“And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?” I Corinthians 3:1-3

These were some pretty stout words from the Holy Spirit to the Christians of the first century that lived in Corinth. In a time when they should have been more mature in their walk with the Lord they were still living like the world, or as one translation renders the last part of verse three, walking as mere men. Calling on Jesus has always been a calling to a higher level of morality. When we become born again, we gain more than a ticket to Heaven; we receive from God attributes that enable us to show the world the nature of Christ in us.

For a while now we have been reminding ourselves that, as Christians, we have a higher calling in Christ Jesus. Once we heed Christ’s call, we must also accept God’s call to be progressively conformed to the image of His Son, and to allow ourselves to be molded more and more into His image. It’s true that we all have individual callings from the Lord in our lives, but more than that we are called to be Christians, to be “Christ-like.” How? By allowing the character of God that’s in us to shine out of us. To grow and develop in the “fruit of the Spirit” that dwells inside of us as believers. This “fruit” is the byproduct of God working in us—it’s the characteristics of God flowing out of us! We need to develop this fruit in our lives so we can progressively become the Christians God has called us to be.