Spiritual Growth as a Crucial Goal of the Christian Life

What are you doing to advance in your knowledge and love of the Lord and to seek the ultimate goal of all Christians, the likeness of Christ?  Dr. Charles Stanley recently wrote, “How you answer this question is important; your spiritual stature and well-being depend on it.”¹    If we truly understand God’s intention for the Church, we know that spiritual growth is not an option; it is a mandate and expectation of our Lord.  So, how do we grow in our likeness of Christ? 

 

Here are four essentials:

 

1.   Claim and Live into Your Salvation:  The first essential in the journey into Christ-likeness is Salvation.  Salvation gives us the freedom to grow and change.  Jesus in John 3:3-8 tells Nicodemus (and us) that we are to be “born again;” that is, we are to enter into a New Life, a new way of living, based on and propelled forward by a redeeming and life transforming relationship with God.  But Christ is clear…being born again is just the beginning of the journey. 

 

How about you? Are you Born Again?  If you are, you will know.  If you are not sure, talk to your priest or pastor about gaining that Blessed Assurance of your eternal salvation.  Growing into the image and example of Christ begins with this life-transforming step.

 

2.   Be Intentional about Your Spiritual Growth:  Another essential to growing in the image of Christ is intentionality.   In your born again relationship with God through Christ, the Holy Spirit has taken up residence in your life.  With the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, expect to be irresistibly compelled to grow in your knowledge and love of God. 

 

How about you?  If other interests or circumstances are taking priority over God’s call for you to grow in Christ, then simply make an intentional commitment right now to seek Him with all your heart and mind.  Take on the spiritual disciplines that foster and grow you in Christ, and see what the Lord does with your intentionality.

3. Immerse Yourself in Caring, Loving, Sharing Christian Fellowship:  True Christian fellowship is a foretaste of the Communion of Saints in Heaven who God is loving gathering to Himself through time and for  always.  That is why, ultimately, there can be no such thing as a Lone Ranger Christian.  It is in relationship with others that we learn to love unconditionally the way Christ first unconditionally loved us.  We are all called by Christ to move ever more deeply into the fellowship of the saints and be more involved in others lives.   It is in the Church that we can be a blessing to others... be Christ to others.... and in the process we ourselves can be blessed and encounter Christ in others.

 

How about you?  Are you committed to a Christian fellowship?  Are you invested in the spiritual growth and well-being of others?  Are you seeking to be nurtured in the Faith by other Christians?  Are you dedicated to helping, encouraging, supporting and praying for others?  

4.   Allow God’s Holy Spirit to Lead You from Self-Absorption to Self-Giving:  One final essential for growing in the image of Christ is sacrificially giving yourself for the sake of others.  The Christian journey at its heart is a movement from self-absorption to self-giving.  To model our lives on Christ is to sacrifice and even suffer for others.  Christ says in John 15:13, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”  This sounds like something reserved for the Saints (with a capital S), but to think so would be unbiblical.  We will never approach the sacrificial giving of Christ who gave His life for the sake of the world, but we are all called to grow in giving of our time, talent and resources for the sake of others and to the glory of God. 

How about you?  Are you discernibly on this Christian journey from self-absorption to self-giving?  Are you growing in your likeness of Christ?

Father Rob

¹ Dr. Charles Stanley, “The Height of Godliness,” In Touch Magazine, August, 2012.