Daily Devotionals

Artificial intelligence appears to be the future of company recruitment. In order to avoid political bias, programmers build software that selects between job candidates by predicting their performance at a particular position. These predictions are not solely based on interviews; they may also draw on behaviors that are recorded on social media.

The Christian church works very differently from most companies. Instead of selecting the best candidates for church membership, churches recruit everyone—and allow the Holy Spirit to empower every member to help every other member become more like Jesus.

Then the church grows in numbers as the members become more attractive in character. The apostle Paul recorded the growth process when he wrote about the talents that Jesus gave after His ascension: “He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11, 12).

In this passage, Paul is using the metaphor of Christ’s body to refer to the members of the church. When Jesus gives the talent of teaching to some church members, for example, they can teach other members how to live like Jesus.

When people learn about Jesus and become like Him, they attract others and the membership grows. Paul described this growth in character and in numbers when he wrote about how God would continue to give gifts or skills: “Till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13). In other words, people are drawn to groups that are growing and going places.

Apply It:

Find a way to help another church member this week.

Dig Deeper:

Ephesians 4:1–3; Ephesians 4:7; Ephesians 4:14, 15

Key Bible Texts

From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. (Ephesians 4:16 KJV)