2 PETER 3:14 is a wonderful verse to use as a guide for our growth…we can check ourselves by these few words: “be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless, and blameless.” The word diligent is perfect here, Peter means we are to be always on the alert, with our minds focused on how we are developing in Christ. Following are some markers I found in a DVD by Dr Charles Stanley. They have helped me immensely in my years as a Christian. They are good, common sense “rules.” We have no problem getting a physical checkup,”surface but seem to have trouble with spiritual checkups. We should not, as the spiritual is frequently more important than the physical. I would suggest writing them down and keeping them in your Bible or journal for future reference.
1. We should have a growing hunger for “more” of God. I have met far more superficial Christians than mature, committed ones. Sorry to say, “surface Christianity” is all too common and much is by choice. maturing is hard work.
2. We need a deep desire to know God’s truth, His deeper truths. It is God’s desire that we know Him “intimately.” That takes some doing, time and desire…Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the TRUTH, and the life…” This says to me that one that does NOT know the Savior, cannot know truth. I know that is a strong statement but I believe it to be true…apart from a relationship with Him, we are unable to discern the truth, our thinking processes are crooked. Most people don’t realize that when we are born again, our minds are NOT born again, we are instructed to “renew” them. There are a number of verses that tell us that we have work to do on our minds. A good word study is looking up in a concordance the word mind, and write out the verses you find in your journal so you can meditate on them from time to time.
3. We become aware of our sinful state…not that mature Christians should see themselves as worthless or devalued in any way, rather it should make us sense in new ways, our desperate need for Him. The older I have grown in Christ, this very attitude has taken over in me. I KNOW I need Him more now. I am a single, live alone, and fully recognize my need to depend on Him for decisions, leading, and companionship. I understand how when I was a young believer I thought and acted on my own. But as I grew I realized what I was doing, and then what I should do, and proceeded to change my thinking. Now I take great comfort in “leaning” on Him and needless to say, my life is much more settled and comfortable.
4. We develop a quicker response to sinful thoughts, which becomes sinful deeds. At times early in our Christian life, we may even presume on God’s Grace and stay in a sinful behavior longer than we should. We know we’re growing when we can quickly take that offense to the feet of Christ and leave it there.
5. As we grow, the battle frequently becomes more intense, problems seem bigger, temptations more inviting. We can however, rest in the knowledge that the Lord is developing us into mature believers as He shows us His power to overcome ANY situation.
6. We have come to recognize that we do more growing in hard times than in peaceful times. God reveals Himself to us in the most exciting ways when our backs are against the wall and we have no choice but to His power to see us through the trial victoriously. Additionally, we discover character qualities in Him (and sometimes ourselves) that we didn’t see before.
7. There is a saying, LOVE is spelled TIME…as we grow, a sincere desire to serve develops and we want to give Him the time necessary to serve fully and well. That time for His work is given out of love for Him, not out of duty and it becomes very pleasurable. We also need to remember that God is not a hard task master, He wants us to pace ourselves and not overdue it. Proper rest keeps us at our best for Him.
8. We have come to understand that God is a sovereign God, and that good and bad both come from God’s hand and is under His control. We may not understand it all, but we have learned to trust. Romans 8:28 proves true…”all things” work together. “all things.”
9. We should see our faith growing, our confidence in His willingness to answer. He wants us to “pray big.” Nothing we can ask is too big for Him to handle and personally, I believe He enjoys surprising us with answers just to grow our faith. We can tell we are learning to let the Holy Spirit guide our asking also.
10. A big example of growth is wanting to share our Lord and our experiences with Him, with others. We understand that others need to know Him and w3e are willing to tell them.
11. We become willing, even eager to give to God’s work. He teaches us that His plan is that His people are to support His work. It helps us get out of the “me” point of view. We also will find the more we give, the more He gives back to us.
12. A true believer cannot divide up his life into little sections…God is active in every part of it. We find ourselves talking to Him all the time, it just becomes second nature.
13. He, and spending time with Him become our #1 priority…we give Him the first and best part of our day, willingly.
We have moved into an intimate relationship with the Savior…the best place to live from moment to moment!
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