GROWING IN CHRIST
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In human nature, when a child is given birth to, at a given time and place, the child is expected to grow to maturity. The people around would like to see the child, crawl, stand walk, talk, and grow to maturity. In most cases, the child is always compared with the children around or even with the ideal pace of infantile development already
known, not through any form of education but through a dint of natural instinct. Different food being given to the child, from the mother's breast-feeding to other food should nourish the child and aid his grown Also, the instructions the child receives from the parents and the community into which the child is born should help the growth of the child directly or indirectly. The child can also receive aid to growth through the influences he gets from the people and the things he or she comes into contact with, including toys.
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Indeed, the life in the child implies that the child grows and if he or she does not grow at all, the child is as good as dead. But if the growth In the child is stunted, people around would ask for reasons for such: could it be malnutrition, lack of openness to learning on the part of the child or not adequately involved In the communal life of others where a child normally has a fertile ground for growth. It is so with our Christian life.
At Baptism, the Christian is made a Son of God and immediately is endowed with the Spirit of life. This is the sacrament of initiation 'birth' to Christian life. And by its very nature, that life implies necessarily dynamism and growth.
The same applies to all baptized Christians who have become temples of the Holy Spirit. Such a Christian is expected to grow and the faith Implanted in him by the Spirit of God should bear fruits and should be seen in the life and work of the Christian. Again after receiving baptism, God has given us the Church to teach us the truth about him, the sacraments, around which we practice our faith, and the Holy Spirit to guide us. We also have the Christian community; the life of saints and those lay faithful whose life continue to bear witness to Christ, whom we can learn from. With all these, God is expecting us to grow in the Spirit and bear witness to his love. If we do not grow or have stunted growth in the Spirit, questions will be asked from our consciences Or from the Church community and only the individuals will be able to say the reason why the growth is lacking or poor. During his own ministry, Paul expected the people he ministered to grow in Spirit. Sadly, when this was not the case, at one of the occasions, he queried:
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”I want to learn only this from you: did you receive the Spirit from works of the law or from faith in what you heard? Are you so stupid? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh? (Galatians 3:20)”.
The good works of the Christian are in reality the fruits of the Spirit. They go a long way to showing sincere growth in the Spirit. The seed Of life of Spirit planted in the believer at the moment of his baptism should normally grow and this dynamic development should be experienced, both by the Christian and the community. The experience of Christ -centered life in us may go a long way to convening others and bring them back to Christ.
GOD BLESS YOU
We want to continue growing in Christ, for this is a privilege. Associating with God and his son is a grand privilege, because only those God loves that draws to himself. Thanks for your contribution.
Upvoted & Resteemed
J8.
As new born babes
Desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby
The more of the word of God we have consumed, the better our growth
Thanks for sharing
Warm regards
OSAs Christians, it is important that we grow spiritually. Especially after baptism, because this time around we have vowed to serve God with our life. We do not want to be stagnant in growth. Thanks for sharing.
Acts 9:20-31
Saul had repented of his former way of living and had put his trust in Jesus. He had been forgiven for all of his sins, and had invited the Lord to be the leader of his life. Now what did that look like in Saul’s life? Did it make any difference in what he did and the way he lived each day? Absolutely! He did a complete 180 degree turn and began to live every moment of his life for Jesus.
-We can learn a lot from Paul. After all, he was just a man. God’s work in his life made him look like a hero, but he would be the first to say that it was all God, not Paul who accomplished great things. Paul’s life, especially his early Christian life, shows us how we can keep on growing. The main truth of today’s message is simply this:
Every person who receives Jesus as their forgiver and leader needs to keep on growing in their faith.
What does a growing Christian look like
We will look at 4 characteristics of someone who is growing spiritually.
A Growing Christian Always Seeks to Know Who Jesus
-Paul immediately began to proclaim that Jesus is the Son of God. He was only able to do this after a personal encounter with Jesus, followed by time spent in His presence. There’s an old song that Zoe has learned: Everybody ought to know who Jesus is. As Paul got to know Jesus better, he was able to boldly tell others why they should put their trust in Him.
To develop in Christ we have to search for it consistently and eat the word that fills our soul. A debt of gratitude is in order for sharing
Wow, i learnt alot from this. Indeed as a child there are stages in life we need to pass for us to become an adult. As a christian, we need to read thw world of God, pray , fast , worship and adore the lord so taht we can be close to him. And also given your life to Christ.
Thanks for this post.
To grow in Christ you have to feed the spirit.
Food is essential for growth, physical food is used to nourish the body while spiritual food is for the spirit.
The word of God is a spiritual food, when you also Pray or worship God, you're nourishing the spirit.
The spirit gets sick when you don't feed it. The way to know that your spirit is a sick is when you start having evil imaginations and start considering sin to be bad.
FEED THE SPIRIT EVEN AS YOU NOURISH THE FLESH. STUDY THE WORD.
This is a wonderful and awesome message. Different food being given to the child, from the mother's breast-feeding to other food should nourish the child and aid his grown Also, the instructions the child receives from the parents and the community into which the child is born should help the growth of the child directly or indirectly. The child can also receive aid to growth through the influences he gets from the people and the things he or she comes into contact with, including toys. Indeed, the life in the child implies that the child grows and if he or she does not grow at all, the child is as good as dead. But if the growth In the child is stunted, people around would ask for reasons for such: could it be malnutrition, lack of openness to learning on the part of the child or not adequately involved In the communal life of others where a child normally has a fertile ground for growth. It is so with our Christian life. At Baptism, the Christian is made a Son of God and immediately is endowed with the Spirit of life. This is the sacrament of initiation 'birth' to Christian life. And by its very nature, that life implies necessarily dynamism and growth. Thanks for sharing
To grow in Christ we need to look for it every day and eat the word that fills our spirit. Thanks for sharing
What a nice post! @philipuyi. You did carefully drive your point home with use of the growth and developmental process of a child...
Indeed, our spiritual life needs to grow from day to day, glory to glory, through fellowship, prayer, the studying of God's word, witnessing, and basically, obedience, as illustrated by the second image of your post.
Thanks for sharing.
Kind regards.