As parents, we love our children. We don’t love them more one day than the next or one more than the other, even though they may be very different. So it is that by faith, having become children of God, we live in His love. We live under his approval because we have been given the righteousness of Christ. That is what we are – the “indicative” as Dr. Das put it.
Because by faith we have the righteousness of Christ, we don’t talk about “good, better or best” Christians.
As parents, we love our children. This doesn’t change the fact, however, that we want them to grow up in certain ways. We want them to be well-educated, to use their gifts wisely and well. We want them to be people of character and strength. We want them to possess virtues of courage and determination and integrity, virtues of joy and peace and contentment. We love them all the same because they are our children, but we want them to grow in such a way that they are safe, prosperous, happy and accomplished.
Our children NEED such maturity, if they are to prosper well, even survive in such a world as this.
So it is that God wants us, His children, who live in His love, to grow into Christian maturity. This is what He wants us to do – the “imperative.”
This maturity is not a burden or a challenge, but a blessing for which we pray, even as others pray for us. Paul did so, saying 16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.
This Christian maturity is given by the Spirit of God through His word and sacraments. We need this maturity. The world needs this maturity in God’s people if we are to bear up to the countless challenges to our faith and our eternal life.