Committing To Growth
"But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." - 2 Peter 3:18
Spiritual growth is never an accident. You will not simply drift into maturity; you will only drift into complacency and spiritual laziness. Just as physical muscles require resistance and proper nutrition to grow stronger, your spiritual life requires intentional discipline to develop. If you are not actively growing, you are slowly dying.
The Apostle Peter commands us to grow in two specific areas: grace and knowledge. Growing in grace means becoming more like Jesus in our character, becoming more patient, more loving, and more forgiving. Growing in knowledge means deepening our understanding of who God is through His Word and His creation. Both are absolutely essential for a healthy spiritual life. Knowledge without grace can make us arrogant and judgmental, while grace without knowledge can make us shallow and easily deceived. We need both. This requires a firm commitment to the "means of grace," the spiritual disciplines of prayer, Bible study, worship, fellowship, and service. These are the gym equipment for your soul.
I have never met a spiritually mature person who said, "I do not know how it happened; I just woke up one day filled with wisdom and faith." Every spiritually strong person I know has a routine. They have fought for their time with God. They have said "no" to good things so they could say "yes" to the best things. I realized early on that if I wanted to be a man of God, I had to do what men of God do. I had to commit myself to the process of growth, even on the days I did not feel like it.
Choose one spiritual discipline you want to develop or strengthen in the coming month. Perhaps it is fasting once a week, or reading the Bible for twenty minutes every day. Make a specific, realistic plan and commit to sticking with it.
Lord, I do not want to remain a spiritual infant. I want to grow in the grace and knowledge of You. Help me to be disciplined and consistent in the practices that lead to spiritual maturity. Make me more like Jesus every day. In His name, Amen.
Spiritual growth is never an accident. You will not simply drift into maturity; you will only drift into complacency and spiritual laziness. Just as physical muscles require resistance and proper nutrition to grow stronger, your spiritual life requires intentional discipline to develop. If you are not actively growing, you are slowly dying.
The Apostle Peter commands us to grow in two specific areas: grace and knowledge. Growing in grace means becoming more like Jesus in our character, becoming more patient, more loving, and more forgiving. Growing in knowledge means deepening our understanding of who God is through His Word and His creation. Both are absolutely essential for a healthy spiritual life. Knowledge without grace can make us arrogant and judgmental, while grace without knowledge can make us shallow and easily deceived. We need both. This requires a firm commitment to the "means of grace," the spiritual disciplines of prayer, Bible study, worship, fellowship, and service. These are the gym equipment for your soul.
I have never met a spiritually mature person who said, "I do not know how it happened; I just woke up one day filled with wisdom and faith." Every spiritually strong person I know has a routine. They have fought for their time with God. They have said "no" to good things so they could say "yes" to the best things. I realized early on that if I wanted to be a man of God, I had to do what men of God do. I had to commit myself to the process of growth, even on the days I did not feel like it.
Choose one spiritual discipline you want to develop or strengthen in the coming month. Perhaps it is fasting once a week, or reading the Bible for twenty minutes every day. Make a specific, realistic plan and commit to sticking with it.
Lord, I do not want to remain a spiritual infant. I want to grow in the grace and knowledge of You. Help me to be disciplined and consistent in the practices that lead to spiritual maturity. Make me more like Jesus every day. In His name, Amen.
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6 Comments
Amen, Pastor!
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nThank you Pastor Ed for being a humble steward of the calling God has placed upon your life. Two years ago during your “Why Not You” series, it planted a spiritual seed within me. During the last sermon in that series, the one where you summarized all the sermons, I was actually visiting from out of town and was able to attend the series, and brought back home with me the listener guide and have had it hung on my fridge since. I was also at the sermon just as you shared the illustration on how the Holy Spirit is our guide, there was a loud thunder strike!?
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nThis past January during the most recent 21 days of prayer and fasting, something inside of me clicked, and I had what felt like a great awakening. The seeds you and everyone at CBC had planted begin to come to bloom during the ‘“New Oil” sermon series where everything started to come together spiritually.
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nThe biggest takeaway I received was I needed to be intentional with my spiritual life the same way I am with my physical life as well. Thank you Pastor Ed for being the authentic leader that you are. I pray blessing over you, your family, and everyone at CBC. Have a blessed day!
Well said! Amen!
How do you know all this stuff? I goto church. I meet people. I can’t tell at all anyone I’ve met has had any kind of supernatural spirit type stuff being present. You I know are led by God but you seem so normal there up on stage. Yet you write something like this with such first hand knowledge and specific details. Very insightful. Thank you
amén!
Ame
Yes Father God make us more like YOU ??