day no. 14,849: mature manhood as the standard under which we march

Ephesians 4:11-14
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

The move our God requires us to make is away from childishness and toward mature manhood. The measure of success is the stature and fullness of Jesus Christ, Himself the chief Man among men, the standard by which manliness and manhood ought to be defined and measured. There is no manhood outside of Jesus and there is no maturity independent of Him.

Our manhood is not measured in inches. It is measured by likeness and family resemblance to Jesus. He is the rod by which we determine if we are plumb. He is the standard under which we march and secure our calling.