growth

Y(our) Spiritual Grow-Op!

/ Craig / 2 Comments

Scripture:  2 Peter 1:5-8

5For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Observations:

Make great effort to supplement your faith

— to keep building up your life on the foundation of your faith.

Peter's Step-Ladder

Not growing this way makes us ineffective and unproductive in our knowledge of Jesus.

Wow, Love is at the top of the “ladder!”

Application:

Do I possess these qualities in a growing way in response to Jesus and the Gospel?

What are we doing to grow in these qualities together?  Do I have a friendship and fellowship that encourages, exhorts, rebukes, teaches, and builds me up to pursue this kind of vision of growth?  Do I have relationships where I am creating a space filled with  grace and truth in which we mutually and honestly pursue spiritual growth?

If the Christian life is not just about “my” spiritual growth but also about “our” spiritual growth, then I have to make adjustments to include others in the journey with Jesus.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, sometimes, often, we are so resistant to growth.  But that’s not the normal life you envision.  Please stimulate our fellowship to grow together.  Your Spirit has put within us the desire to be effective and productive in our knowledge of Jesus.  May we become more Jesus.  Somehow our fellowship must become a spiritual grow-op!  AMEN.

 

 

 

Y(our) Spiritual Growth

/ Craig / Leave a comment

Scripture:  2 Peter 1:5-9  NLT

5In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, 6and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, 7and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.

8The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.

Observations:

“For this reason (ESV)  “In view of all this (NLT)” — Going back to verses 3-4 — because of God’s power and promises made available to us through Jesus Christ.

“make every effort”  — exert yourself

“to supplement your faith with…”

Application:

Who are you doing this with?  Who are you “responding to the Gospel with? Who are meeting with, praying with, serving with, wrestling with, and sharing life with?  So often we read these verse in the West through the self-improvement lens and we think its all up to “me.”

Yes you can seek to grow by yourself — and often you must respond to Jesus — just you!  But the fellowship of Jesus is one where we together “make every effort to supplement our faith with…”

I need a spiritual buddy, a circle of hope (or a Life Group), and a church who together are seeking to grow with Jesus.  At different times in my life I’ve been blessed with many variations of this theme!  The Gospel-shaped life is one in which we receive salvation and communion with God as a treasured grace gift.  And the Gospel-shaped life is one in which we respond to Jesus with enthusiasm and the hopeful expectation that we can and must participate in the transformation of us all into people who love well.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, I’m predisposed to go it alone.  But the hope of Jesus is drawing me into a life that is shared.  Help.  AMEN.

PS:  If you are hanging around Origin, we encourage you to be a “spiritual buddy” by getting into a 2+ group to Read the Scripture, Pray for the Lost, and Share your life (10-10-10 minutes each/ once or twice weekly.)  Contact me for the Origin 2+ app.