Short & Sweet: Grow Up

Short and Sweet Nourishment for the Soul

41 “Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. 42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.

Acts 2:41-42

On the wall in one of the bedrooms in our house, is a series of hash marks. They start at about 3 feet high and continue to about six feet. Each hash mark contains a name and a date. These cryptic marks chronicle the growth of our two sons. The passage of time measured in feet and inches. How proud my sons were to see their growth from year to year. Physical growth is good, healthy, and normal. More important than physical growth, is spiritual growth. How can we grow up spiritually? With a good dose of Acts 2:42.

Spiritual Growth

Acts 2:42 lists four things the early church did to grow up in their faith:

1. continuous study of doctrine

2. fellowship

3. breaking of bread

4. prayers

Let’s take a quick look at each of the four items above.

1. ” … continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine …”

To us, this means Bible study. In order to grow up, we need to continually feed our souls with the truth of God’s Word.

Action Point:

What can you do today to put more of God’s Word in your heart?
Is anything growing in your heart (bitterness, jealousy, sketchy habits) taking up space needed for God’s Word?

2. Fellowship

The Greek word for fellowship means: 1) a gathering of like-minded Christians who encourage and teach each other, and 2) the works (sharing the gospel, helping the needy) of a group of like-minded people.

Action Point:

Which type of fellowship do you need to grow your faith, teaching and encouragement or good works?
Using your answer to point one, what will you do to start growing in fellowship?

3. Breaking of bread (a.k.a. communion)

Communion is a beautiful portrayal of the message of the Gospel; Christ sacrificing His life, giving His body, pouring out His blood, for you and for me. At the Last Supper, when Jesus implemented communion, Jesus asked His disciples to “Do this in remembrance of Me.” What does Jesus want us to remember? His sacrifice. True life is not about living for self. It’s about doing the will of God and sacrificing our lives for the sake of others.

Action Point:

What can you sacrifice today to help someone else grow up in Christ … time … Starbucks … a plate of cookies … a personal note of encouragement?
Name a certain area of life or character quality you need to improve. How can you more closely follow God’s will in this area?

4. Pray

The Greek word for prayers is proseuch, which simply means prayer addressed to God, to pray fervently. Blue Letter Bible adds the emphasis is not on the contents of the prayer, but its aim and its end. Don’t worry about impressing God with big intricate words, He knows your heart.

Action Points:

Grow up and take a step of faith: I will lay aside my will and ask God to work His will concerning _____________________________.

Thank God for how He will work His will for point 1..

Life is sweet! Grow up!

Growing Up Into Christ

Who doesn’t love that sweet little baby face? It’s hard to resist chubby cheeks, sparkling eyes and toothless grins! But what if we stayed as babies for our whole lives? Would it be quite so attractive?

We are smack dab in the middle of a series at church called Colossians: Living a Life Worthy of the Lord. It’s been a challenging series, not a feel good one necessarily. But one that is sorely needed. It’s all about moving beyond baby steps with Christ and growing and maturing in our faith.

A few Sundays ago, the scripture we were in was Colossians 1:24-29 and Colossians 2:1-5. Pastor David Bell was talking about how our maturity matters greatly to God, and how it is an expected privilege of all who follow Jesus. It got me thinking about the whys of it all. Why is maturity important in our faith? What would the world look like if we just happily accepted our salvation and never moved on from there?

Well, one way to look at this is to use the analogy of a baby. Babies are immature of course. They need to be fed, changed, cared for, loved and protected. They can’t stand on their own. They can’t do much for others yet. They are pretty much in the “taking” mode. Imagine how we would feel if our babies never grew up. We would forever be immersed in diapers, baby food, car seats, play pens and strollers. Now I know we all are nostalgic about the days when our kids were little, but there is something very satisfying about watching children grow up, reaching new milestones and independence, making mistakes along the way, yes, but ultimately becoming productive members of society—and God’s kingdom.

Now let’s imagine that this is similar to how God sees us. When we take our very first step of faith by accepting Jesus as our Savior, we are born into God’s kingdom. And for too many of us, that’s where we wallow. It’s a comforting, easy place to be. We’re loved, we’re fed—all our needs are taken care of. But, I can imagine God looking down and saying “Come on, it’s time to take those next steps. We need to get rid of the baby food and get some meat into us. I’ve got work waiting for you to do!”

It takes time and work to grow in Christ. Sometimes we have to give up other things to attend that Bible study or take that class. We need to devote time to prayer. We need to spend time with mature Christians who can encourage us. Often times, it’s far easier NOT to do those things. But where would our world be if we all took that attitude?

What if Martin Luther, George Müller, Amy Carmichael, Billy Graham, your pastor, the person who introduced you to Christ, what if they all had made different decisions, different choices in their lives? What if they had never grown up in Christ?

God doesn’t see each of us any differently. He’s got things that He prepared in advance, waiting for us to do (see Ephesians 2:10). What if we never get there?

This isn’t meant to be a guilt trip. If you are already growing in God, then don’t pile on anything else that He hasn’t given you to do or hasn’t called you to. But, if your Christian life hasn’t changed much since you started following Jesus, and you feel God is nudging you to grow up, here’s a few questions David left us with at the end of service that Sunday morning that may help you too.

Am I content where I am in my maturity in Christ?
Is God content with where I am?
Is there room to grow?
What areas do I need to grow in?
Am I willing to pursue what it takes?

What do you think about maturity? I’d like to hear your thoughts.

Pray on!

Growing Pains

Growing Pains

Jane VanOsdol

When I was growing up, I remember that frequently at night my sister Mary would run to our mom, crying because her legs ached so badly. Mom would rub her legs and soothe her by saying that it was just “growing pains” that hurt so badly. While it didn’t make her legs stop hurting, it helped to know that there was something good that would be coming out of this painful process.

I think that we can also get growing pains in our spiritual lives too. Last month, we talked about new beginnings. Well, when we take that step of faith and begin a new process in our lives, somewhere in the process we experience growing pains. We may begin to question our decision. “What was I thinking?” we moan. “I’m not nearly smart enough to do this.” Or, “Why did I join the prayer ministry? My prayers are not nearly as eloquent as John’s are.” Maybe two weeks into our commitment to get up 30 minutes earlier to pray, we are overcome by fatigue and discouragement.

First of all, this is normal. The enemy does not want us making any headway into our spiritual lives, and he will throw obstacles along our path. However, this is also the time that God calls us to grow up. We need to put aside childish ways and thinking and persevere in that commitment, with the assurance that God will bless this new direction in our lives. Our growing pains will produce a harvest in our prayer lives.

Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you that you bring growth out of the painful processes in our lives. May we no longer be like children, but grow up in all things into You. Amen.