Growing
If you have children still at home, you probably have some place in your house where you measure them. Little marks on a door or a wall or a chart that shows their growth over time. Why do we do that? I mean, it’s not like we didn’t expect them to grow. Hopefully, it wasn’t a big surprise “He was only 8 lbs when we brought him home. When is this going to stop!?!?” I suppose it is part nostalgia, and part fun to compare where they are now with where they used to be. And it reminds parents that their time with their children is short.
Growing is what living things do. Whether plants, puppies, or people, if you are alive, you are growing. It is almost as if life requires growth. And perhaps growth requires life.
Some growth is easier to measure than others. You can easily measure height gained, years served, assets acquired, degrees conferred, and awards given. But other growth is not as tangible. How do you measure the soul’s spiritual growth? Time spent in the word, numbers of prayers answered, sum of Sundays attended? It is harder to measure, but I think it is surely worth the effort. It’s good to reflect upon your spiritual growth. If you are not growing, then you are probably dying. If you are a Christian, you are alive with Christ. And living things by their nature, grow, mature, and change.
Sadly, Lowe’s doesn’t carry a spiritual growth measuring stick. However, there are scriptures we can use to measure our spiritual growth.
“For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 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.” (2 Peter 1:5-8)
Perhaps you are thinking of our Wednesday Night Summit study over the fruit of the Spirit. (If you’ve missed it, join us!). Look at the Galatians 5:22-25 measure: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
Each of those fruits provides an excellent measure of how much we are growing in Christ and how much His Spirit is working in our lives. Did anyone who obeyed Jesus ever stay the same? I am not sure He would allow them to do so. It is the same for all of us. Whether you are 15 or 115, if you are in Christ, He expects you to be growing, because, growing is the only way to know you’re still alive!