Growing Christians! Wow, shouldn't we all be? Is a person a Christian if they are not growing? That question is for Paul! Just kidding! Hey if we start discussing that we may hit a record for comments in a week. Are you a growing christian? The poll question asks us this week if we have grown in the past six months. I have grown a whole lot over the past few weeks since we started the blog. Thanks Paul for being faithful to put a new poll question up each week and I want to challenge each of you to answer it each week. Please. Ok.. Pretty Please. This week the writer brings out three areas whereby christians can grow. The first area is by spending time together. Fellowship, worship, group outings, socials, MAN HUNT (Is that spiritual?) Well, you get the picture. Proverbs 27:17 says: Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another. It is great to spend time with christian brothers and sisters. I think that is one of the greatest things about heaven(other than being with Jesus), is the fact that we can worship and fellowship for an eternity. The second point that aids in a christian's growth spiritually is by sharing life experiences and mentoring one another. You talk about making an impact on one of your students, show up for one of their extra curricular activities and see the smile on their face. You will make their day. Or.. at the funeral home when they lose a loved one. Life experiences are a time when everyone wants to share it with others. Nobody wants to go at it alone. Be there! Mentoring... check this out. Just this week one of our youth parents told me that I was the discussion around their dinner table. The subject came up that the youth should eat all of their food on their plate and they quickly told the parent: "Well, Brother Billy is my hero and he don't eat green peas so why should I have to eat them?" MAN... talk about being watched! That blew me away. That made me stop and think of all the small things in life that I don't think really matter a whole lot. The little things are important. Spend time mentoring a young man or lady and teach them a few things about life. The rewards are eternal. The impact will last for a long time. When you get discouraged and want to quit just remember your students care a lot about you and you are a HERO to them. That will definitely humble you. The last thing the writer speaks of for spiritual growth is by doing ministry. It's called service, not "serve us!" That's right, we are to be doing the ministry. When you are a growing christian this will become very easy. Think about where all the problems come from in churches. That's right... from people who are not growing christians. When we are GROWING we will be GLOWING! Shine Jesus Shine!
4 comments:
To be growing Christians means we must be maturing. Maturity requires growth in spirituality. This takes time. A newborn baby can be healthy, but being healthy certainly doesn’t make him/her mature. Isn’t it the same with Christians? If the answer is yes, then we can be healthy, but immature. Now does that make sin unhealthy to the Christian or immature to the Christian? Galatians 6:1 says…Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself lest thou also be tempted. This very passage speaks of a mature Christian, one with spiritual fruit in his life, and the immature Christian, one overtaken by willful sin and not walking in the spirit. The mature Christian is the one that is spiritual, and may have the ability to lead, teach, and discern. He/she is a model to the “baby” Christian. A newborn in Christ may be healthy, but often lacks the growth and maturity required to steer a wayward brother or sister back to the path. Maturity comes with time, but also requires that we continue to walk in the Spirit and stay Spiritually healthy. If not, we remain spiritual babes regardless of how long we’ve been saved. My prayer is that our youth, walk in the Spirit and feed on the milk and the meat. I pray that we’ll pattern our lives to exemplify Christ, and in doing so, our students will grow in their Christianity.
Billy, kidding or not you hit the nail on the head. I listened to a Paul Washer sermon on this very topic yesterday. As teachers we have the job of guarding souls, which is a mandate from our Lord. So if you have a student or friend that is not growing you should be alarmed. I'm not saying get in their face and tell them they are going to hell. I am saying you should be on the alert. A lack of growth combined with other 1 John factors may point you to a false convert.
I do not believe we can remain spiritual babes for life. If so Paul is a liar;
"I am sure of this, that He who started a good work in you[3] will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Phil 1:6 (HCSB)
Did the Holy Spirit allow you to remain a babe? So how have you become more holy/perfect? Was it your works, or the work of the Holy Spirit?
John I understand what you are saying, but we have to be careful with the language we use. A student is not going to grow spiritually by watching me. It is the Holy Spirit living in that person that perfects(teleios—Greek-Hebrew Dictionary)him or her. They may mimic me, but there heart is wickedly evil (Jer 17:9)Then when the cares of this world or tribulation comes they fall away.
Now yall are probably thinking the same thing my Marine Senior Drill Instructor use to say "Somebody Kill Him!"
John let me apologize. I re-read your post, then mine. I was wrong about your assessment. For what ever reason I totally looked over;
"I pray that we’ll pattern our lives to exemplify Christ"
You are absolutely right & Biblical! The Apostle Paul said the exact thing when he told Christians to follow him as he followed Christ. Keep up the good work.
Crystal Gill said …….. Sorry I am blogging so late. Ella has been sick but that is no excuse. On this topic, I think that should be living as lives as an example for the youth. But I ask this question –just as we talked about how can you tell someone is saved? How can you tell if someone is growing as a Christian? I have several shy students in my class just because they don’t talk or raise there hands to answer all the questions does that make them less spiritual? I have watched a remarkable transformation in one. Maybe he is growing as a Christian by using his spiritual gifts which may not be reading aloud but showing love and concern for others. I have grown over the last several weeks that we have been doing the blog. At first I thought I might be intimated by some of your intelligent comments, but I quickly realized that I am who God intended me to be. So where are the rest of you guys?
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