It’s natural. And growing spiritually is like physical growth. It’s a process and takes time. It goes faster if you have the right mentors and environment. Here are not ALL of the keys, but 3 big ones for spiritual growth.
First, Knowledge of the word
Yes we are to read the Bible if we want to grow. The Bible isn’t just for spiritual giants. It’s actually for you, young Christian. This ties into the concept that God doesn’t have grandkids, we’re all His children. And as a result we have as much access to Him as anyone.
He wants us to read his word. He wants us to know his word was written for us as much as for anyone who ever lived. It is His word to us. He knows us, He wants us to know about Him. That information is in the Bible. The more we know, the more we grow in Truth.
Of course we can benefit from those who are more familiar and even have the gifts of preaching and teaching. But we don’t have to get all of our information filtered through them. We are to read, study, memorize it ourselves. It fuels our growth.
Second, we grow by exercising our faith.
The Bible tells us that our lives are to be a “walk of faith.” That’s how Jesus was lead, step by step. We follow His leading and rarely are we shown MUCH of how the future is going to play out. Usually a step at the time.
The reason for that is because God knows we would then forget about Him until we got to the point that our information dried up. He knows how short our attention span is. He knows how weak we are and He wants to bring us along. And he knows if we are to develop, it will take time. In fact, one step at a time.
Third, we are to abide and rest in Him.
We’re not supposed to be wandering around life on our own and occasionally checking in with headquarters. John said, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit [a]of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.”
The plan is for us to go through life together. If you haven’t heard, we have been given a tutor. He’s been put inside our hearts. He’s permanently placed in there wether we pay attention to him or not. He has a clear purpose and that is to lead us. He is called the Holy Spirit.
And He can’t lead if we are fighting Him or ignoring Him. This is where the work of faith comes in. We have to keep ourselves in a posture of trust and cooperation with His leading if we are to stay in positive fellowship.
That’s how you grow.
Just like a seed grows when it’s in the ground. That’s where it’s nature can be released as roots, sprout and take hold of the earth. In the same way our new spiritual life can grow as we abide in Him. That’s how everything He put in us at our spiritual birth can be released so that we can fulfill our purpose.
