Here’s wishing all fathers and mothers a blessed Parents’ Day! May the LORD personally repay what you have sacrificed for your family and kids! The great amount of time and energy you have spent on your children were all in hopes that their lives would be good and they would grow up to be someone useful. Hence, as sons and daughters, we celebrate Parents’ Day not only to shower our parents with gifts to repay them for their love and guidance, nor do we simply treat them to a sumptuous meal. Although these are very good ideas but what can be better than fulfilling our parents’ wish of becoming a good person?

Parents all hope that their children would be successful. Actually, this is also our Savior’s wish. “So Christ Himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip His people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:11-13) The LORD Jesus Christ has blessed us with different spiritual gifts; His aim was for us to be united in truth, so our spiritual life can grow and be Christ-like. Not only does our Lord Jesus want our lives to grow, He has also blessed us with a conducive environment and spiritual food so that we can grow, and He has also set an example for us to grow and become more like Him. We do not have a reason to not grow unless we refuse to fulfil His wish and are lazy to put in effort to pursue a growth in life. What are the consequences if there is no growth in our spiritual lives? According to Ephesians 4:14 “Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.” A life with no growth is like a child who cannot tell right from wrong. He is easily influenced by the world or confused by other values, he has distanced himself from a fruitful life, and has lost God’s blessings.

A Christian’s growth cannot be away from the truth – God’s Word. Without God’s Word to guide us, we are like children lost in the sea, fearful without a sense of direction. Thus, we have to study God’s word. Studying God’s Word will help us to understand His will. But we cannot just stop at theology. “That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in Him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:20-24). We have to make changes to our lives through what we have learnt from the Word of God. What we need is a heart that is willing to learn and submit to God’s word. We need to change our bad habits, wrong values, ill intentions and self-centeredness. Our new selves must exhibit the image of God and we have to live like Christ.

When we have pursued growth in our spiritual lives, we can experience the true and wonderful God and get to know the loving Father who has created, saved and protected us. The growth of a Christian is a path towards knowing God and knowing Christ, and from not knowing God and treating Him like an enemy to becoming His close friend. The God we trust is not out of reach. He is our close friend, a good companion who wants to share life with you. We should not reject this wonderful blessing. “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. (Ephesians 1:17)