Growth

Growth is something that each person goes through and we experience this in different ways. When we are younger, we cannot wait for our growth to occur whether it is our height, muscles, age, life itself, and on and on. When we are older, our growth is about the next phase of life whether it is growing in our education and/or what we are to become, our social activities like dating or sports, and for many others parenthood.

Growth is an area of life that all people have in common regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, faith/religion, and so on. This is not to say that all people grow as they should as I have known people to remain the same for many years without any positive growth which is hard to imagine but it does happen. This is one thing that should sadden us as we strive and aspire for growth when we are younger but when we finally get to where we desire, somewhere, so many stop.

This is a situation that seems to be all too common for Christians. That is, they start out strong but finish poorly and the reasons may be many but when we are in Christ, our walk with Him cannot stop. Just like with a flower, it must be allowed to bloom before it can blossom and our walk with Jesus Christ is the same: we must continue to grow in Him. Do not think that God stops growing in us because He is the creator and who knows their creation better than the creator so while we may stop growing in God, He is always there for us.

Isaiah 41:10 famously reads “Fear thou not; for I [am] with thee: be not dismayed; for I [am] thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” Deuteronomy 31:5 repeats a similar message “Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he [it is] that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.” This is true even when we are upset with ourselves or the world and take it out on God: “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and [that] the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16).

There are many moments in scripture when good, Godly men and women did not act as they were accustomed and the reasons were many why. Peter denied Christ three times even after Peter told Christ that he would not do so. Christ knew beforehand that Peter was going to do so and while Peter was certain that he would not, he did. Again, who knows the creation better than the creator? David was a great man of God but he lived in disobedience a lot to the point where God took his son from him but David knew that it was his fault: “But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me” (2 Samuel 12:23).

Peter and David both are influeital members in the Christian faith but it would be difficult to convince anyone that they were without flaws and without sins. Being a Christian is not about being perfect and this is one of those principles that I stress in my writings because too many people believe that they are unable to give their life to God in their current state. If there were conditions based on giving your life to Christ then it would be very difficult for most of us to do so and I am included in this category. However, it’s not about being perfect or living the perfect Christian life but whether or not you have a real relationship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Zephaniah 3:17 reads “The LORD thy God in the midst of thee [is] mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.”  While there is no perfect person or perfect Christian life, there is love: “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love” (1 John 4:18). As Christians, regardless of how long our walk has been, we must continue to grow in the love of God and with the love of others that is made possible only through Jesus Christ: “We love him, because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). The only way we can get to this point is our growth in Christ.

Growth is an area of life that all people have in common regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, faith/religion, and so on.”