Spiritual Growth
Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God’s revelation again. You need milk, no solid food. Now everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced with the message about righteousness because he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature–for those who senses have been trained to distinguish between good and evil.
Herbews 5:12-14 (CSB)
Spiritual growth is at the hub of sanctification because it is expected and necessary in the lives of believers. The author of Hebrews noted that a lack of spiritual growth is not spiritually healthy. Spiritual growth enables believers to resemble Christ more closely and to live life fully according to the Lord's will. It occurs as we intentionally seek the Lord in truth, allowing us to fulfill the expected growth in our relationship with Him.
Growth Is Expected. You would not want a child to remain an infant forever. In fact, there is joy in watching an infant mature into a child, a child into a teenager, and a teenager into an adult. During this development, personal growth is both critical and expected. We anticipate that an adult will have the ability to feed themselves. Spiritually, the same applies. We begin our relationship with the Lord as spiritual infants. The Lord expects us to grow and mature as we pursue spiritual adulthood. We must embrace this expectation and strive to deepen our relationship with the Lord.
Growth Based on Truth. Our spiritual growth must be anchored in truth. We flourish when we embrace the truth and trust in the guidance and work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We must not allow the voices of this world, even spiritual voices, to divert us from the truth. We engage with the truth because we acknowledge that God alone provides the essential truth for life. When we understand that spiritual growth is rooted in truth, we reach the realization that we must engage with the truth appropriately.
Growth Means Taking Intentional Action. We properly engage with the truth when we do so intentionally. We intentionally engage with the truth by dedicating time to delve into the Word of God and to spend time with the Lord in prayer. We engage intentionally when we allow the Spirit to guide us in our efforts and resist the temptation to adopt the ideas of the world. We demonstrate our intent by prioritizing our spiritual development both individually and in the corporate gathering of the local church. We must recognize that without being intentional, we become stagnant in our spiritual growth.
QUESTIONS
How are you being intentional in your process of spiritual growth? What hindrance do you face? What successes are you experiencing?
Why would you say that spiritual growth is important and expected? How would you describe the issue of failing to grow spiritually?
