"Ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for Christians everywhere, I have never stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the wonderful future he has promised to those he called. I want you to realize what a rich and glorious inheritance he has given to his people." - Ephesians 1:15-18
This passage is a perfect example of "the next step" in a Christian's walk with the Lord. The church in Ephesus had a strong faith in Jesus and was full of God's love, but Paul knew their walk with the Lord shouldn't stop there - no Christian's walk should.
You see, our God is an awesome God; his power and wisdom go on forever. Therefore, neither in this life, or in the life to come, Will we ever know everything there is to know about him. There will always be something new to learn about the glory of God. So Paul prayed for God to give the church "spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you might grow in your knowledge of God". He didn't want them to stop where they were, to stop growing and learning about God. And I don't believe any Christian ever should.
Personally, I'm horrified at the thought of ever reaching a place in my walk where I say, "This is good, I think I'll stop here." That would be terrible! "I think I've made it to point where I'm good enough. Ya... I'm pretty sure there is nothing else that God in teach me. After all, I'm a great Christian already"
I love God, and just like anything I love, I would never want to stop learning and enjoying all he has to bless us with. That would be like me going all the way up through grade school, middle school, high school, college, and then finally when I reach graduate school (and I almost have that degree I have worked my whole life for) suddenly saying, "This is good, I think I'll stop here." and dropping out. Yet it seems that a lot of Christians do this; and I can't figure out why...
Paul wanted the church to receive everything that they should; "I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the wonderful future he has promised to those he called. I want you to realize what a rich and glorious inheritance he has given to his people." He wanted them to get that degree; to understand the inheritance they would receive. So he asked God to continue to give them wisdom and understanding so that they would keep growing.
I don't know about you, but I want my life to be one long adventure where I never stop learning and discovering new things about our Awesome Creator. So I'm going to start asking God to give me spiritual wisdom and understanding so that I can grow in the knowledge of Him.
What about you?
