Grow!

"I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." - Philippians 3:14

In Sunday Morning Worship, we are reading thru Philippians together. We just came across the middle of chapter three this past Sunday, where Paul resolves for himself and encoucourages his readers to deepen their faith. In my last post, I mentioned a scene from Shawshank Redemption where a main character, Red, tells the lead character, Andy, to "get busy living or get busy dying."

A similar statement is true in our faith, we are either growing or backsliding. We need to be sensitive to what the Spirit is trying to do in our souls. What does He want to teach you? Where does He want to stretch you? Where has He been challenging you and where has He been chastising you?

God created us to mature. Look at our biology. There is a period in utero where we are safe and incubated. Then we are born and begin to unpack and grow. I just had a baby, or rather, my wife did. We just had our fourth child. In the womb, limbs are all folded up and the body is relatively scrawny. Now four weeks later, her legs and arms stretch out straight and she is packing on the pounds as she eats and grows. Biology shows us that we are created to mature. And the same is true in spiritual ways.

We begin this faith in a simple, stripped down way. Jesus is God. He loves me and died to pay the punishment for my sin. I need Him in my life. As we mature, we learn more about Him. As we mature, we use what we learn to make good, godly decisions. As we mature, we love Him more as we know Him more completely.

Press on toward that goal! Deepen your faith!