COV LIFE BLOG

End of Year 2012 – Evaluating Your Growth in Godliness

What kind of spiritual growth have you experienced during the past year? I strongly believe we should ask ourselves that question. If we are serious about growing spiritually, we must at times measure our progress. That’s the only way we will know where we are in our quest to reach spiritual maturity. Of course, I am assuming that you have that for a goal.

It is a fact that once you become born again through faith in Christ, you have all you will ever need to get to heaven. No matter how much serving, praying, and studying the Bible you do thereafter, you can never become more justified than you were when you first repented of your sins, and believed on Christ.

So if our spiritual growth—or the lack thereof—is not a salvation/damnation issue, a logical question to ask ourselves is why is our spiritual growth important. I submit to you that our commitment to growing spiritually is more than just a good idea or a nice to have. Looking at the big picture, the failure to grow is not an option for us.

The bottom line is that God did not save us only so we can go to heaven, but also that we might be instruments of winning the lost and serving the body of Christ. It is on the authority of this truth that I say all Christians should commit themselves to growing spiritually.

The Bible says, “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby” (1 Peter 2:2). Our spirit needs a regular diet of the wholesome Word of God, just as our body needs a regular diet of wholesome food. Note the word “desire” in the verse above. The question is, what kind of desire—or should I say, what kind of appetite—do you have for sound biblical teaching and preaching? The lack of such an appetite will impede your spiritual growth.

Equally important is the issue of what we must do with the Word of God once we receive it. The Bible refers to the strong as those “who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil” (Hebrews 5:14, NIV). We will never reach spiritual maturity by simply hearing and studying the Word of God, no matter how wholesome that teaching is. We have to put the Word into practice on a daily basis so that we learn how to walk in perfect discernment between the good and the evil. This is a lifetime endeavor. Christ is our example. Let us strive to become like Him in all respects.

The Scriptures make it abundantly clear that God’s will for us extends beyond salvation. First and foremost, of course, we must be saved. And it was with great cost that our salvation was purchased. To Christ we owe all. But salvation is not the end but the beginning.

For those of us who know Christ, the essential foundation has already been laid, and God has placed a desire in us for the things of His kingdom. It is imperative that we build upon these and grow because He has called us to be a part of winning the lost and serving the believers, and this is no job for the spiritually immature.

Frank King

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Heart Preparation
Read 2 Timothy 2:1-5. Have you grown this past year in spiritual maturity? What are you going to do to encourage growth in yourself in the coming year?