Spiritual Growth

What Scripture Helps Us Understand

Sanctification is God's work in His people, yet Scripture never describes believers as passive participants in that work.

Salvation involves surrender to Christ, but sanctification involves a lifelong battle against sin. We do not simply drift toward holiness. By the grace of God and through the power of the Holy Spirit, believers are called to actively put sin to death, pursue obedience, renew their minds through God's Word, and grow in Christlikeness.

God works in us through His Holy Spirit, and He calls us to actively pursue obedience.

We are commanded to put off sinful patterns, renew our minds through truth, and put on ways of living that reflect Christ. We are called to study and obey God's Word, pray, worship, fellowship with other believers, serve within the body of Christ, confess sin, practice repentance, and persevere in faith.

These things do not earn God's favor.

We pursue them because we already belong to Him.

Spiritual growth also does not happen in a perfectly straight line. There may be seasons of tremendous growth and seasons when progress seems painfully slow. We may discover sins and desires in our hearts that we had never recognized before.

Sometimes seeing our sin more clearly can even make us feel as though we are going backward.

But recognizing sin is itself an opportunity to run again to the grace of Christ, repent, and continue walking in obedience.

The Christian life is not about achieving sinless perfection in this life. It is a life increasingly characterized by repentance, faith, obedience, and dependence upon God.

And ultimately, spiritual growth is not about becoming impressive Christians.

It is about knowing Christ, loving Christ, obeying Christ, and becoming more like Christ.

Questions to Consider

• Where have I seen God changing me?
• Where do I continue to see patterns of sin in my life?
• What desires tend to compete most strongly for my heart's worship?
• Am I regularly spending time in God's Word in order to know and obey Him—or merely to gain information?
• Is prayer an expression of dependence upon God, or do I tend to rely primarily upon myself?
• When The Lord exposes sin in my life, do I respond with repentance or defensiveness?
• Am I meaningfully connected to a faithful local church and other believers who can encourage, teach, and lovingly correct me?
• What area of Christlikeness might God be calling me to pursue more intentionally?
• Do I desire spiritual growth primarily because I want a better life, or because I want to know and glorify Christ?

These questions are not a spiritual scorecard. They are opportunities to prayerfully examine where God may be calling you to greater faithfulness.

Scripture to Consider

• Philippians 1:6

  The God who began His work in believers will faithfully continue it.

• Philippians 2:12–13

  Believers actively pursue obedience while recognizing that God is at work within them.

• Romans 8:28–29

  God's purpose for His children includes conforming them to the image of His Son.

• Ephesians 4:20–24

  Christian growth involves putting off the old self, being renewed in our thinking, and putting on the new self.

• John 15:1–5

  Lasting fruit comes through abiding in Christ; apart from Him, we can do nothing.

• Galatians 5:16–25

  Walking by the Spirit produces fruit that reflects God's transforming work.

• 2 Peter 1:3–8

  God has provided what His people need for life and godliness, and believers are called to diligently pursue growth in Christlike character.

• Hebrews 10:24–25

  God intends spiritual growth to occur in relationship with His people, not in isolation.

A Simple Next Step

Rather than trying to change everything at once, prayerfully identify one area in which The Lord is calling you to grow.

Then ask:

• What does Scripture say about this area?
• What sinful pattern, belief, desire, or response may need to be put off?
• What biblical truth needs to renew my thinking?
• What Christlike response should I begin putting on?

Choose a passage that addresses this area and spend time studying it—not merely asking, “What does this mean?” but also:

“How is God calling me to respond?”

Then take one specific step of obedience.

Growth often happens through ordinary faithfulness repeated over time as we depend upon God and respond to His Word.

When You Would Like Someone to Walk Alongside You

Sometimes we recognize that something in our lives needs to change but struggle to understand what is happening within our hearts or how Scripture applies to the situation.

Biblical counseling provides a place to examine those struggles carefully through God's Word, identify patterns of thinking, desiring, and responding, and pursue change that reaches beyond outward behavior to the heart.

If you desire to grow in your relationship with Christ or are struggling with patterns that seem difficult to change, I would be honored to walk alongside you as you pursue biblical change and greater Christlikeness through the truth of God's Word.