Keep On Growing

by Thomas B. Warren

Some Introductory Matters

1. God intends growth.
1. God intends growth in the physical realm. God intends that plants (trees, flowers,  vines, etc.) grow. And He has provided the means for  such to grow: soil, water, air, sunshine, cultivation  (by man) by aiding those things which assist growth  and working against things which hinder growth (such  as weeds, insects, etc.).
2. God intends growth in the animal realm. God intends (for the good of mankind) that  animals (horses, cattle, sheep, hogs, etc.) grow. And  He has provided the means for them to grow. After  begattal, conception and birth, there is food,  exercise, air, water, rest, etc.
3. God intends growth in the human realm. God intends for human beings to grow  physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
2. God demands spiritual growth.

No growth is as important as is  spiritual growth on the part of a human being. We may be  disappointed by the lack of growth of saplings in our yards  and we may be saddened by the lack of physical and/or mental  growth on the part of our children, but no lack of growth can  compare in importance with the lack of spiritual growth on  the part of a person who is capable of such growth (cf.: Heb.  5:11-14; I Pet. 2:1-5; II Pet. 3:18; Lk. 8:4-15). 

In What Are Men to Grow?

II Peter 3:18 makes clear that men are  to grow in grace and in knowledge.

Men are to grow in the grace of  the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Pet 3:18).

1. The "graces" listed.  In II Peter 1:5-11 various aspects of the Christian  character are listed as being involved in what can be  "added" (that is, in what one can grow spiritually). (In this issue of The Spiritual  Sword each of these "graces" is  discussed in detail.) As the chapters on the  respective "graces" is studied by the  reader, it is hoped that he will repeatedly ask  himself: am I "adding" this particular  "grace?" Am I growing in the  particular matter? Or, have I become stagnant,  spiritually speaking? Have I grown in some of them  but not in others?
2. Men must become stronger in  each grace by being involved in the proper spiritual  exercise. If day by day a man performs acts which  are acts of brotherly kindness, he will grow more  kind toward his brethren. And so it is with all of the "graces" - the more one is  positively involved in the practice of them,  the more he will grow in them. On the other  hand, every unkind act done by a person tends to  render that person's heart less kind in its basic  disposition. Just as physical exercise can strengthen  a man's physical heart, proper spiritual exercise can strengthen his spiritual  "heart" (spirit, soul, mind.)
3. Men must grow in all of the  "graces." No man wishes to grow  physically so that his body becomes asymmetrical. Few  men would be so foolish as to develop only their  right arms to neglect of their left arms. Just so, no  man should strive to grow in, say, only two of the  ":graces" while he neglects the others. No  one can compensate for the failure to grow in one of  the "graces" by trying to grow very strong  in others. Conceivably, one might try to grow in  knowledge while he cares nothing for growing in  brotherly kindness. Such simply will not do. The  knowledgeable man who woefully lacks in love is a  sort of spiritual monstrosity. There must be  spiritual balance - spiritual harmony. And such  can be brought about only by growing in all of the  "graces."
   

 

Men are to grow in knowledge (II  Peter 3:18).

This can be done by prayerfully,  diligently and regularly studying the sacred Scriptures, the  word of God (II Tim. 2:15). An entire article in this issue  is devoted to this point.

Men are to "keep on  growing."

There are no "spiritual  plateaus" which men may reach and rightly say," I  have now arrived - I need grow no more!" To  stop growing is to stagnate. To stagnate is to begin decay.  To stay in the process of decay is to rot. To rot  (spiritually) is to be lost. Other articles in this issue  deal with matters in detail.

 

May every man become a child of God (by being baptized into Christ, Rom 6:3-5; Gal. 3:26-27) and "keep on growing in the grace and knowledge" of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

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( reprinted with permission from: Spirtual Sword, 1981, Vol 12 No. 2 pp. 0-1)

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