It has being an amazing month of growth and in yesterday’s service, Pastor brought to our remembrance the signs of growth that should be evident in the life of every Christian. We were reminded of the importance of having the right communication and speaking the right words being a major sign of maturity. Pastor also spoke of the ability to handle increased responsibility as a sign of growth. She cited the example a baby who may desire to do the dishes but would not be allowed to do so because of his inability to handle such responsibility effectively. However as such child grows up, he will naturally be expected to be able to handle such responsibilities as a sign that he has grown. Similarly, God can entrust the matured Christian with responsibility that he cannot entrust to the one who is yet to grow. Pastor went further to show that in handling, responsibility, following instructions is an important principle. No one would entrust responsibility to a person who has an habit of always flouting instructions because such a person has not grown. Pastor reiterated that one of such instructions we have been given is to never forsake the assembly of fellow believers as seen in Hebrews 10:25. By the word “forsake”, it is implied that there would be other things calling for our attention but no matter how important they seem, we must never abandon or forsake our responsibility to gather in the house of God for anything else. The growing Christian learns to take church attendance very seriously, He does not give excuses to miss church meetings.

A growing Christian also learns to dedicate time to pray and to study the word, regardless of whether he feels like it or not because these are instructions we have been given to follow. To explain this, Pastor read from 2 Timothy 2:3, “Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ”. Pastor clarified that there is a difference between hardness and hardship and that the Christian is not called to suffer hardship, lacking the basic necessities of life. Rather, the Christian is instructed to be tough, learning to do the right thing at the right time regardless of how he feels. When it is time to pray, he prays without paying attention to whether he feels tired or not. When things don’t seem to turn out the way he has been speaking, he does not because of how he feels begin to change his confession and start speaking like the world for “no man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier” 2 Timothy 2:4.

Pastor taught on the concept of Christian consecration admonishing us that as Christians, there are conversations we should never get ourselves involved with, discussions we should not care to have an opinion about, because we are light and light has no fellowship with darkness. Pastor charged us that the consecrated Christian does not excuse the wrong things; listen to the wrong music or watch the wrong movies. He would not be found excusing fornication or patronising movies or music that encourage and normalize such things. Pastor showed us that God’s definition of sin has not changed and this remains why God’s wrath comes upon the sinners. She also made us understand that while it is true that if we make mistakes, God’s grace abounds, his grace is not primarily for the purpose of covering wrong doing, it is primarily available to enable us live above sin. In concluding the message, Pastor showed us how important the kind of songs we listen to is. If singing spiritual songs has a place in getting us filled with the Spirit as seen in Ephesians 5:18-19, then the songs we hear go a long way in determining our lifestyle. Hence, the reason some Christians find themselves struggling with the wrong habits despite speaking the word is that they are being influenced by the wrong songs.

There is a badge of purity that the Christian should carry around. Knowing that he is an expression of God’s holiness and sanctification, there is no room for hidden dirts or secret sins.

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