Session 11

The best way to know if you’re growing in your faith

From Chasing Purpose: A 27-Day Devotional

Every year, kids go to the doctor for a check-up. The doctor assesses their health by measuring their height and weight and asking questions about their physical and social development.

As parents, we anticipate incremental changes in their height, weight, strength, social, and physical skills because change is an indicator of health. God expects to see change in His children, too.

Peter, one of Jesus’ disciples, challenges us to keep growing in the letter we now know as 1 Peter. “Rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good” (1 Peter 2:2).

As we grow, we grow-up in our knowledge and understanding of God, we begin to do new things, think new things, and say new things. The same way that our language skills and abilities change as we age, our behaviors and speech change as we grow in faith.

Ordering our lives around the things that matter to God happens gradually over time. Giving, serving, and telling others about Jesus are just a few examples of behaviors that feel more natural as we grow up in our faith.

If we’re not changing, it’s probably a sign that we’re not growing. The same way that from formula and breast milk to solid food, if we find we’re not growing, it’s often a sign that it’s time for us to step into something new.

Reflect:

• Let’s give ourselves a check-up: How have you changed since you started following Jesus? Have you grown less focused on yourself and more focused on others? Are there things you do now that you didn’t do then?
  
• Is there anyone in your life that you see stagnating? What’s one way you can encourage them to grow in the grace and knowledge of God?