Living things are supposed to grow. It’s in the design. Doesn’t matter if we’re talking about plants, animals, or people. All living things grow. The rate of growth is different for each living thing. Some things grow incredibly quickly. Some things grow incredibly slowly. Sometimes we barely notice any growth at all. Sometimes we can’t help but notice! Take children for example. When you’re with your baby every single minute of every single day, they don’t seem to be growing very quickly, but go for a night out or look through old photos and the rate of growth that you see is amazing. It’s easier to see that growth when you’re not right in the thick of things. I think the same is true spiritually.
We know that God wants us to grow. In his letters, Paul talks about the Christian life as a growth process. When we accept Jesus as our savior, we are born again. We become spiritual babies. We feed on spiritual milk. The idea is that we’re supposed to continue to grow as real babies grow, moving from those infant years to toddlerhood, childhood, adolescence, and finally to adulthood. In fact, the book of Hebrews rebukes those believers who refuse to grow up.
“We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. 12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.
Hebrews 5:11-14
God expects us to continue to grow up spiritually as we walk with Him. We start by learning about who God is and who we are in Christ. As we grow closer and closer to God and come to know Him better we begin to learn discernment about right and wrong choices in our life. We gain wisdom. In fact, Proverbs tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. When we realize who God is and we reverence Him as we should, we are just starting on the path to wisdom! 2 Corinthians 3:18 says: “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” The goal as we grow is to become more and more like Jesus. Peter tells us in 2 Peter 3:18 that we need to: “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.” It’s an ongoing process.
How do we grow? Well, we begin with the fundamentals of learning about God’s plan for us.
“Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, 2 instruction about cleansing rites, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And God permitting, we will do so.”
Hebrews 6:1-3
These teachings about the gospel form the foundation of our faith, but they are not the end of the road. They are only the beginning. We have to add to that foundation. What do we add? Well Peter tells us in 2 Peter 1:5-8: “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We are to build from faith to goodness and from knowledge to self-control, and from perseverance to godliness, and from affection to love. As we see these qualities increasing in our lives, we can be sure that we are growing.
We have to be careful not to rely on our own works, though. We might be able to produce small changes in our behavior, but true spiritual growth requires our cooperation with what God wants to do in our lives. In Colossians 2:6-7, Paul tells us: “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” We didn’t receive Christ Jesus as Lord through our own power. We didn’t receive salvation by our own works or our own merit. We received Him by faith–by complete and total reliance on Jesus to do the work of salvation in us. Paul tells us to continue to live our lives in Him. That means we have to continue to trust and completely rely on God’s work in us to do the job of growing us into spiritual maturity.
When we watch our own children grow, we are looking for them to move from dependence on us as their parents to independence or dependence upon themselves as they move to adulthood. But God’s Kingdom is an upside down kingdom when compared to the way the world works. In spiritual growth, we aren’t moving from a place of dependence to a place of independence. We’re doing the exact opposite! God wants to move us from a place of independence, where we don’t think we need Him at all, to a place of complete dependence upon Him, where we know we can do nothing without Him. Jesus’ words to His disciples give us a clearer picture of this movement from independence to dependence on Christ.
Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
John 15:4-5
If we want to grow spiritually, we must rely on Him. We have to abide in Him in order to be fruitful. When we see God’s fruits in our lives, we can know that we are growing spiritually. Galatians 5:22-23 tells us: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” So if we look at our lives, do we see fruit? I have to tell you from my own personal life, it’s sometimes easier to see all the times I didn’t show fruit than it is to see all the times I did. Just like it’s hard for me to see how quickly my children are growing when I am with them everyday, it is hard for me to see the growth in myself. If we are truly growing in the fruits of the Spirit, we should be able to see small improvements in our lives, but beyond that others should be able to see fruit in our lives. If you think you see fruit, but no one else does, you may want to seek God to find out if you are truly growing or if you’re being deceived.
This past year has been a serious time of trial for our family. It doesn’t seem to be getting any better. We don’t have an end in sight. There are times when I think I haven’t made any progress at all. After all, if I’m making progress with what God wants to do in me, if I’m growing in faith, etc. why can’t I see His promises come to pass? I look around and I see all the places where I still miss the mark. I get discouraged with my progress. But the other day, I was messaging with a friend of mine on Facebook. I was giving her an update on our situation and lamenting that there was no real change and things seemed to be moving so slowly. She surprised me by saying, “I see how much your faith has grown in this past year, and I want you to know that you’re an inspiration to me.”
What?! Wow! Here I was, looking at my life and seeing no change, no movement at all, but my friend could see what I couldn’t. Outside the immediate trial and struggle I was dealing with, she could see changes in me for the better. She could see more fruit in my life at a time when I was beginning to think nothing would ever grow! It made me more thankful for the work God was doing in my life. Many times, we seek to grow in God and to have more of the fruit of the Spirit in our lives, but we want God to wave a magic wand and just make it magically appear. Unfortunately, that’s not how things work. When we ask God for more faith or more patience or more joy, He often answers by putting us into moments of trial where we have no choice but to practice what we wish to have more of in our lives. James tells us: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:2-4). Trials and tribulations help to make us mature and complete. They fill in the gaps in the places where we are lacking fruit by putting us in a position to rely more heavily on God. God steps in in our place of humility and trial and fills those gaps in us, our brokenness and our weakness, with more of Himself. That’s when we see growth.
If you’re looking for spiritual growth in your life, follow the admonition of Jude: “But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.” (Jude 1:20-21). Pursue God. Get to know Him better. Stay in the word. Pray. Build relationship. Have an accountability partner, someone who can tell you when they see growth even at the times when you doubt it most. If you want some additional resources, consider checking out Christian ministries that specialize in discipleship. Like this one: https://www.cru.org/us/en/train-and-grow/spiritual-growth.html. And remember that as long as you abide in Christ, He will be faithful to complete the work that He began in you.
A Beautiful Mess 