Skip to main content

How Can I Grow Spiritually?

    


        



        How can I grow spiritually? This question is one that many Christians, new and old, ask themselves and others. It is a good question and one that corresponds with the right desires. Jesus was a perfect example of this because the Holy Spirit explains, “And Jesus advanced in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:52). We understand that as Jesus grew from adolescence to adulthood His wisdom and stature would surely grow. I want to focus our attention to the fact that He grew in favor with God and men. When we grow in Christ and mature from the basics of our faith, we will certainly receive the favor of God. So, what are some basics of growing spiritually?

Love God and Others

            The New Testament Christian must remember their first love, Christ! This was the thing lacking in the Ephesus church of Christ as recorded in Revelation 2. Our first-century brethren would not accept false apostles, but evidently, they forgot why. Love of God is the first motivator for each and everything that we do as the body of Christ. To grow spiritually we must grow in love which requires action on each of our parts. Jesus showed us this example, and we are reminded of this.

Hereby know we love, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath the world's goods, and beholdeth his brother in need, and shutteth up his compassion from him, how doth the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither with the tongue; but in deed and truth. 

1 John 3:16-18

Jesus had to work the ultimate work of love, by dying for us. So, in turn, we must be willing to lay down our lives for the brethren. We look after their well-being, looking for ways to truly love. Our love must not be lip service, but with our actions and always in truth.

Remember how Christ showed His love to the man who was a rich young ruler. He made time for him, He asked him to look at himself, and then He revealed the truth that that young man would not inherit eternal life if he would not give up the thing that made him lacking. If we are lacking in love for God, our brethren, and the lost, our growth in the Lord will be stifled.

Pray to God

            Our God and Father loves His people and wants to hear from them. If we want to grow spiritually, we cannot neglect the blessing of prayer. We can be assured that God hears and answers prayers. Peter added, “For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, And his ears unto their supplication: But the face of the Lord is upon them that do evil” (1 Pet. 3:12). He is listening, and as Christians, we are to pray without ceasing (cf. 1 Thess. 5:17; Luke 18:1). Who do we pray for? We pray for our brethren; we pray for the lost.

            How is your prayer life? Where does it need to be? Should you be praying more? I would surmise that even the most faithful Christians would not say they should pray less. We need to take advantage of our line of communication with our Heavenly Father. To grow in the Lord, we must grow in prayer.

Go and Sin No More

            Sin will stifle our growth in things of a spiritual nature. What we must do is stop sinning. Sounds easy, right? Is growth easy, generally speaking? If you want to grow in love, you love like Christ. If you want to grow in prayer, pray like Christ. If you want to not sin so that you can grow in holiness, look to the sinful Son of God.

            Another way that we grow in the Lord is that when we have sin we make it a point to repent and move on. Think about the example of Peter. He sinned, he denied the Lord. He sinned, he told the Lord not to talk like He was going to be crucified. He repented, and he moved on. He went on to faithfully serve as the man God made him to be.

Grow in Fellowship with the Brethren

            Who you hang with will shape who you are. If you want to grow in the Lord, it is imperative that your closest relationships are with the brethren. The Bible warns of the result of the opposite. “Be not deceived: Evil companionships corrupt good morals” (1 Cor. 15:33). When we attach ourselves to brethren, we are attaching ourselves to the people with the same purpose. This does not mean that we have no interactions with the lost; we must interact with the lost, they need to be saved. However, we do not enter into close partnerships with the lost that we do with the world. Why? Because we would become unequally yoked, Paul explains,

Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers: for what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? or what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what portion hath a believer with an unbeliever?

2 Cor. 6:14-15

            If you were ever on a team you knew that most, if not all the members of that team, had the same purpose, the same goal in mind. A team is judged by how well they accomplish the goal. If you are partnered with an individual or organization that does not have the same goal of life eternal, can you work effectively toward growing in the Lord? There are no moral victories in sporting events or business, nor are there in New Testament Christianity. We need to help each other attain the goal that we are all working toward — faithful living, which culminates in life eternal. We have an obligation to each other. How can I help the work of the church? How can I help encourage my brother or sister? How can I be part of the work and not part of the problem? These are the things that we must ask ourselves.

            I believe wholeheartedly that every Christian wants to grow in the Lord. I also am aware that the hindrances that prevent that growth can be subverted with the love of God, prayer, refusing to be entangled in sin, and the proper fellowship that we enjoy with each other.

Grace and Peace,

R.D. Beavers 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Don't Raise an Ahaz

           Twenty years old was Ahaz when he began to reign; and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: and he did not that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah his God, like David his father. But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, yea, and made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the nations, whom Jehovah cast out from before the children of Israel.   And he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree . 2 Kings 16:2-4                   When was the first time you drove a car? What about the first time you jumped off a diving board or gave a speech? After that first time, it certainly became easier. What about the first lie you told? Did it become easier? King Ahaz of Judah was evil and far from the example of David. Ahaz was the first to offer child sacrifices to t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Abijah and Totality

  Now in the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam the son of Nebat reigned Abijam (also Abijah) over Judah.Three years reigned he in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom. And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father. 1 Kings 15:1-3        Do you ever wonder how someone who gets things mostly right can still be so wrong? It is mind-boggling if we do not consider that God judges man in totality. From our text above, it is hard to see anything good that can be said about Abijam (Abijah) son of Rehoboam. After all, it is evident that he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father.      So where do we learn the details? 2 Chronicles 13:1-22 gives us further evidence of Abijah’s issues. We know he i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Can a Christian Celebrate a Secular Christmas?

         Can a Christian celebrate a secular Christmas? This is a good question and one that deserves an honest answer. This week I read the following, “If you don’t talk about Jesus at Christmas time, you miss Jesus. If you do not sing those scriptural songs focusing on Jesus, you miss Jesus. You might have grown up in a church where “Christmas” was a “Jesus-free” day.” These were some accusations leveled against some brethren by a well-known preacher in our brotherhood. In this article, I wish to set the record straight on how it is rather simple to celebrate a secular Christmas and it not be a “Jesus-free” day. I contend that no day is “Jesus free” for a New Testament Christian.            First, this brother accuses the church “of not knowing what to do with Christmas. They celebrate it in their homes, but avoid it at all costs in church.” I contend that the preachers who preach the whole counsel of God know what to do with...
Post a Comment
Read more