The Path of Spiritual Growth

Col 1:9-11
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,


Thanks to a recent blogpost by Ed Stetzer, who I enjoy reading and am always challenged, some thoughts were spurred that I want to capture (and share).


There is a progression in this passage that moves us towards spiritual maturity. The need to grow in this area, both personally and for all who I influence and lead, seems always on my mind. To become more like Christ, in my thoughts, attitudes, values, actions. To encourage others to pursue these - there can be no greater pursuit in life I believe.


Stetzer quoted an amazing statistic from 2500 church attendees, 3.5% displayed any measurable spiritual growth over a years time while 55% perceived themselves to have grown spiritually. It appears we are painfully deceived. Surely, not me, I can hear the thoughts and conversations. Perhaps the bar is set too low. Perhaps it is not set at all.

In Col 1:9-10 there is a progression of spiritual growth; Knowing --> Being --> Doing

Knowing
- "...the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding..."


Being - "...live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way..."

Doing
- "...bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,"


Many have shared with me, and I have experienced it myself at times, that they know what they should do - they don't need to read more books, they don' t need to memorize more scripture, spend more time reading the Bible, but they just need to do more of what they already know.

What a common experience in maturing this is. We have been around Christianity long enough to hear enough sermons, read enough verses, we get the concepts, but the actual application seems to be an impossible struggle.

Perhaps we have skipped over the crucial step of BEING. The step that actually changes my attitudes, that transforms my values, not my understanding, but my beliefs, where I am living what I am becoming. The step that integrates what I know with what I want to do, and the problem exists in the personal pronouns of that statement - "I". We think "I" can do this, and "I" can not.

The transformation of our BEING occurs through my obedient responsiveness to the power of the Holy Spirit. The only thing "I" can do is let Him be Lord and let Him change my being as I respond to Him. He is the Master and I am not and from there He changes my being and I begin to "...live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way...". I don't set the bar, He does, and yes there is one. He moves it up little by little, and I grow.


Doing then becomes a step of faith, responding in both knowing and being.

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