Have you ever wondered how to grow spiritually? The key to spiritual growth was illustrated right before my eyes when my oldest daughter and her husband had twins.
They were small and hungry and spit up a lot, so our days were consumed with making sure they were fed and we all smelled clean.
For weeks, everything we did revolved around feeding the twins. We fed them everywhere. Sitting in parking lots, in the snack area of Target, in restaurants, and in church. We held them, propped them side-by-side on Boppy™ pillows, and even used little pillows under their chins with elastic straps that held their bottles. No guilt. Ever.
While the twins were infants, we planned every doctor appointment, nap, and stroll-around-the-block according to scheduled feeding times. Meals grew cold, photo sessions were nearly ruined, and the twins’ two-year-old brother learned to wait.
There was simply no other way to do life, because there’s nothing like the cry of a hungry newborn. No matter how important a plan or moment is, everything comes to a stop when a newborn cries to be fed.
When an infant is hungry, nothing except milk will satisfy its persistent and demanding thirst. Not even a pacifier will pacify a baby who’s truly hungry!
HOW TO GROW SPIRITUALLY
1. DEVELOP A THIRST
The thirst my twin grandchildren exhibited is the same the kind of thirst the apostle Peter talked about. He encouraged us to long for the Word of God with a passionate, voracious thirst that can’t be quenched by anything else.
Like newborn infants, desire the pure milk of the word, so that you may grow up into your salvation.
A lot of us have a thirst for spiritual growth, but we’re too easily pacified by substitutes.
The “pure milk of the word” Peter talks about means the whole Scriptures.
Not a verse snipped here and there to use in a way that sounds good at the time.
Not ideas about the Bible.
Or short devotional books.
And not spiritual-sounding words gathered from a meme.
Instead, Paul is referring to the real deal.
The Bible.
Studied, meditated on, and applied to the heart.
If we want to know how to grow spiritually, we must develop a thirst for the Scriptures.
2. OPEN THE BIBLE
My twin grandbabies have long outgrown their preemie-sized clothes. So far they’re growing into a soccer player, baseball players, a gymnast, an archer, and a military enthusiast.
As Christians, we won’t grow as we should in faith, godliness, and righteousness apart from the Scriptures.
During my own Christian walk, there have been times my faith has waned, moments when my doubts and insecurities have threatened to overtake me, and dry periods when I felt far from God.
With certainty, I can say most of those obstacles to my spiritual growth happened when I took a break from being “in the Word.” By that, I mean I wasn’t intentionally reading, studying, meditating, and making it my aim to obey the scriptures.
3. ARRANGE YOUR LIFE
The Word of God is our key to spiritual growth. Without it, we may change physically, but our strength and power as believers will be weak.
Had my daughter and son-in-law not been willing to arrange our lives around the persistent cries of my newborn grandbabies for the milk that satisfied and nourished them, they would, at best, be sickly and frail. At worst, they would have died.
Spiritually, we’re no different.
We MUST arrange our lives so we can take in the Word of God. Otherwise, we’ll be powerless Christians with faith that’s weak, joy that’s depleted, and knowledge that’s false and dangerous.
Find time for the Scriptures. Satisfy the longing God has placed in your heart for His Word, and grow in the knowledge of His grace.
Perfect timing. Love when God works like that. Congratulations on another grandbaby in your family. Love you always.