But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever!
2 Peter 3:18
Every Christian desires to grow and mature in his or her walk with Christ. But our desire does not always match reality. I would like to look more closely at the word of God in order to learn how we are to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
What is spiritual growth? Spiritual growth is not mystical, sentimental, devotional, or psychological. It is not the result of some clever secret or formula. Spiritual growth is simply matching your practice with your position in Christ.
Your position in Christ is perfect: you have a righteousness from God (Romans 1:17). You are complete in Christ (Colossians 2:10). You have all things that pertain to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). You have all spiritual blessings in Christ (Ephesians 1:3).
But now you need to make progress so that your practice moves toward your position in Christ. And it’s a life-long journey.
Spiritual growth is essential to the life of a Christian, just as physical growth is essential to the life of a child. Because God commands us to mature spiritually, we need to understand how that happens.
Misconception of spiritual growth
First, spiritual growth isn’t necessarily related to time. Some people have been Christians for a long time and have grown little spiritually, while others have been Christians for a short time and have grown much spiritually. Your commitment to growth is what matters, not the amount of time elapsed from your conversion. Spiritual maturity cannot be measured by the calendar.
Secondly, spiritual growth isn’t necessarily related to knowledge. The issue is not knowledge alone but what you do with what you know. The Bible says that “knowledge puffs up” (1 Corinthians 8:1). Knowledge can make you proud and actually retard spiritual growth. Only when knowledge conforms you to the image of Christ will help you grow.
Thirdly, spiritual growth isn’t necessarily related to religious activity.
Some people think that they have grown spiritually if they have served on a ministry in the church. They assume that if they’re busy, they must be growing spiritual. Remember, being busy doesn’t even result in salvation, let alone spiritual growth.
Spiritual growth isn’t necessarily related to prosperity.
Some people believe that because they have prospered, they have God’s favor. If they possess much, they think that God has blessed them because they are such wonderful Christians. God may have blessed them, but that isn’t necessarily an indication that they are spiritually mature. We need to understand that what we do with our financial resources is just one part of our spiritual lives.
My Role In My Spiritual Growth
Christian growth is discipleship. It is a joint venture between God and the Christian. No one can grow as a disciple without God doing His part. No one can grow as disciple without doing their part either. God has given us the tools to walk as disciples. Amen?
# 2 Peter 3:18
We are commanded in this verse to “grow”. Christian growth is not totally automatic. There will always be areas that we will need to grow in spiritually. We will never reach full spiritual maturity in our lifetime. The pursuit of discipleship is a life long effort.
We as Christians talk much about our salvation. How Jesus defeated sin on the cross and how if we believe in Him, we have salvation. But we do not talk about overcoming sin in our lives and our responsibility to “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” We emphasize salvation but many times and we ignore sanctification which is the process of becoming like Christ.
How can we grow spiritually to become more like Christ?
# Romans 6:4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
This verse speaks of exercise – “walk in newness of life.”
Role 1 : Holiness.
"I am holy; you be holy." 1 Peter 1:16
Holiness is the goal of discipleship. How to become holy? I am sure you have all the ideas of holiness floating around out there we need to come to a common biblical understanding of holiness.
To be holy is to be morally blameless.
It is to be separated from SIN and consecrated to GOD.
The first step in becoming Holy is to change the way you think!
# Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
The process of Spiritual growth means Christian growth with the growth of Holiness. It is a process of “mind change”. It is a process of seeing things from a Godly perspective.
# Romans 8:5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
It becomes clear that if we desire to be holy, we must change our way of thinking. We must set our minds on the things of the Spirit.
# Col 3:2 Set your mind on things above and not on earthly things.
Role 2: To be obedient
God wants us to walk in OBEDIENCE, not victory or in selfishness.
Obedience is oriented toward God. Victory is oriented toward self.
Serving God is a matter of obedience. Victory becomes a by-product of obedience when I successfully obey God.
#1 Samuel 15:22 So Samuel said: "Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.
Does God want sacrifice? The answer is yes. But do you know what He wants more? He wants us to obey Him with our hearts. He wants us to listen to Him. Obedience includes sacrifices. We can sacrifice by listening, by obeying and being a doer of the word. But sacrifice without your heart involved becomes nothing more than a ritual.
Obedience is a matter of the heart.
Jesus said it this way.
# John 14:15 If you love Me, keep My commandments
In other words, it means, "If you love Me, Obey Me.”
Obedience is our role in our spiritual growth.
We need to seek holiness in our lives. We need to see sin as God sees sin. Any act of sin is impurity. We need to be transformed in the way we think. We need to dedicate ourselves to God. We need to “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” We need to come clean.
Spiritual growth progresses from knowing you are a Christian to knowing the word of God to knowing God himself deeply.
The way to know God deeply is to spend your life focusing on his glory, thus learning to understand the fullness of his person. That focus becomes a magnet drawing you upward through the levels of spiritual maturity.
How are you progressing spiritually? In what areas do you need to pray, and allow God to work in you ?
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