Growing up verses7/23/2023 ![]() “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1, NIV). You should follow the example of more mature believers. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work” (Ephesians 4:15-16, NIV). “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of Him who is the head, that is, Christ. Jesus followers in community become more mature to look like Christ together. As you come to Him, the living Stone - rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to Him - you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:1-5, NIV). Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. “Rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. God builds up His followers to worship Him as a community. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil” (Hebrews 5:12-14, NIV). You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. ![]() “Though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. Growing in maturity and discernment is the natural and right path. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:5-8, NIV). “Make every effort to add to your faith goodness and to goodness, knowledge and to knowledge, self-control and to self-control, perseverance and to perseverance, godliness and to godliness, mutual affection and to mutual affection, love. The characteristics of spiritual maturity make you productive and effective in serving God. Against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23, NIV). “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. The Holy Spirit teaches you to have the characteristics of spiritual maturity. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither - whatever they do prospers” (Psalm 1:1-3, NIV). “Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on His law day and night. You can grow by meditating on God’s Word. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17, NIV). “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6, NIV). ![]() “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6, NIV). God begins the work in believers and will continue it. Here are some important verses of Scripture that can help you understand what it means to be spiritually mature. The Bible has a lot to say about what it looks like to grow spiritually. Against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23). The type of person that God wants you to be is one who is characterized by His qualities: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Paul, a leader in the early church who wrote much of the Bible’s New Testament, describes this growth in another way: “We have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Colossians 1:9-10). ![]() Peter, one of Jesus’s closest followers during the time He was on earth, encourages us this way: “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18, New International Version). Spiritual growth is the journey of growing in faith to know more about God and become the person that He created you to be.
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