tragic it is to lose out on close fel lowship with the Lord. Such a relationship could be compared to a married couple who are still united and continue to live together until death "do them part." At the same time, they are miserable and never enjoy any happy fellowship together. If you are a member of God's family, you always will be. You have that def inite security. At the same time, you can lose out spiritually if you are sluggish and dull when it comes to reading and applying. The true believer in Christ is one who wants to go deeper and deeper into the things of the Word. God forbid that we should ever cease to love the Gospel in its simplicity. We must also go on to appreciate increasingly the told message in all of its fullness and profoundity. We earnestly are ex horted to continue in progress toward maturity. May our desires in this realm closely parallel those of Paul, writing under the inspira tion and power of the Holy Spirit. Whenever God, through His Holy Spirit, allows one of the bib lical writers to uncover his heart for admonition, we would do well to consider carefully the truths presented. Such is the case with the Apostle Paul in Philippians 3:10,11. Here we see that his ear nest desire is to progress onward to spiritual maturity.So our desire should be to conform more to the image of our Saviour. Make no mistake, the believer in Christ faces a definite spiritual warfare. This is one reason why it is so easy to drift away from deeper spiritual truths. If we are not careful, a senility of the soul can overtake us. It is a fact that "all
the flowers of all the tomorrows are in the seeds of today." There is a great deal of truth to that state ment. There is always a struggle between righteousness on the one hand and- unrighteousness on the other. The devil is the arch enemy of the Christian while the Holy Spirit seeks to bring us strength and victory. In the Bible we find an excellent picture of this constant warfare. Paul reminded the Corinthian be lievers, "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; casting down im aginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ" (II Corin thians 10:4,5). Every significant ad vance of the Spirit of God through men has always been matched by a special opposition from the devil. The devil is a wily strategist. He will never let up and it is a truce less warfare. Do not ever doubt the existence of a personal and a malignant devil. One of the rea sons why Paul was constantly long ing for maturity in Christ was be cause he realized the foe against whom he struggled. It was Satan who kept him from realizing the power of the resurrection of Christ and the fellowship of His suffer ings. After the temptation of Christ in the wilderness, we read that the devil departed from Him for a little season. This indicates that Satan would keep up his attack all the way to the cross. Even so, the warfare in which the mature believer is engaged is real and not imaginary. The temptations to
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