3 Keys to Spiritual Growth That Work
These 3 keys to spiritual growth I’m about to share will encourage you to not give up. Because once, I almost did.
On a mission to learn how to grow spiritually, numbness overtook me upon entering a church lobby. My heart sank. Any possibility of Christian spiritual growth nose-dived. Frankly, I was caught off guard by the popcorn, coffee, and snacks offered for sale.
Was I even in the right place? Should I plop down on one of the stuffed leather couches and ask someone to bring me a latte? This old-school Christian didn’t know what to make of the surroundings. Wanting to give the church a chance, I entered the sanctuary.
The worship band was loud. That didn’t bother me. The youth seemed excited and I was looking for God’s house. Except, it wasn’t. Worship came off as superficial. People on the stage resembled plastic museum figures complete with plastered, lifeless expressions on their faces. The flashing lights and graphics befuddled my spirit and emotions.
God and I have been together for over 40 years. I knew immediately. He. Wasn’t. There.
The worship leader and pastor mouthed Christianise that rang untrue in my heart. Let’s admit it. Christians live in a superficial world that doesn’t want or need God. So, what are the 3 keys to spiritual growth to help Christians overcome the world?
3 Keys to Spiritual Growth: Identify What’s Superficial in Your Life
- People are tethered to electronic devices. A swirl of images, texts, music, and other activities engage us for hours. Constant attention to these gadgets decreases or eliminates personal interactions between individuals, especially in families.
- A steady supply of apps keeps your fingers moving, luring you into God knows where. Your faith is always in the rearview mirror. Even with all the lively activity, you remain empty on the inside.
- Talking computers take the place of real conversation with living/breathing humans.
- People succumb to a mental health condition called Selfie Addiction. Obsessed with their images, they snap 100s of pictures of themselves daily and post them on social media sites.
- People are disposable. If a relationship doesn’t work out, you can divorce that person and move on to the next.
- Viewers follow TV families as though they live next door while neglecting their own.
- Instead of building physical bonds with people, virtual relationships are the norm. You’re connected and distant at the same time. If someone raises the hair on your neck, simply unfollow or unfriend them. Easy-peasy.
- Virtual reality gaming is far from reality. Gamers live among castles, armies, and adventures that have nothing to do with reality.
- Virtual interactive porn—has ramifications you can’t imagine. Addiction drives you away from God and negatively affects your brain.
3 Keys to Spiritual Growth: Identify Idols in Your Life
Today’s spiritual food on the run comes by way of bumper stickers, billboards, or quick bites of Christian slogans on social media sites. What does this visual stimulation do to your spiritual growth? Does your face glow from the reflection of your gadget’s screen or God’s glory?
“The Soul in Cyberspace” authored by Dr. Douglas Groothuis reveals where Christians find themselves today. Here are a few select quotes from the book.
When you begin to become shallow in your interactions with people, you can become habituated to that. The compulsive search for diversion is often an attempt to escape the wretchedness of life. Cyberspace may be the greatest temptation yet offered to humanity to lose its soul in diversion.
The way we interact online becomes the norm for how we interact offline. You shouldn’t treat another person the way you would interact with Twitter.
Knowing what matters most–truths about God, ourself, and creation–takes time and effort. Being awash in information is not the same as gaining knowledge (truth received in a rational way).
We tend to skip around instead of reading from point A to Z. This makes for superficiality and incoherence. We get a data-fix and move on. Moreover, most online text is surrounded by flashing, moving images that distract us from text qua text.
People practice an “absent presence” constantly as they talk on cell phones, send text messages, and play video games.
Christians engage technologies in ways that undermine virtue, make us less sensitive to good, evil, and God himself.
So what’s the solution?
Christian Spiritual Growth and Development
3 Steps to Spiritual Growth: Identify What You’re Passionate About
Yummy fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies, a roaring fire, movies, books, and loving on my granddaughter. These things reveal my passion for temporal pleasures and shouldn’t replace God.
A 30-second Christian slogan or 3-minute devotion won’t sustain you. There’s too much stuff swirling around you ready to uproot your faith. Here’s a test to find out where you and Christ stand.
2 Corinthians 13:5
Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!
An unholy passion for God means your heart is cold toward Him characterized by a less-than-mediocre relationship. Do you settle for living in a superficial world that offers temporary, self-gratification as a substitute for God?
How intimate are you with God? Do you stay mad at Him because life isn’t going the way you imagined? Does fear, desiring praise from others, and a hard heart distance you from your Creator?
You’re either all in or all out with God.
The staying power of any relationship means you abide. You chuck indifference and develop a tenacious mindset to put the triune God first. Your time with Him won’t be casual. Your heart will be on fire for Him, consuming every waking moment.
Keys to Spiritual Growth: Take Your Temperature
Living in a superficial world can turn your faith as cold as a popsicle. Maybe it’s time to take your spiritual temperature.
- Does God get on fire alongside you while worshipping? Do you look around or up when you worship?
- Would you empty your wallet for the hungry and destitute?
- Can you weep before God, especially during prayer and taking The Lord’s Supper?
- Do you hang on to lustful habits and addictions rather than fling yourself into God’s hands?
- Does prayer make you come alive or do you see it as a chore?
- Do you stoke the fire of your faith by listening to powerful sermons?
- Does reading the Bible cause your heart to burn with passion (see Luke 24:32)
- Do you “show” a cashier, waitress, neighbor, or co-worker salvation by your actions?
- If you asked people, who know you, what you are passionate about, what would they say?
- Do you want God regardless of your circumstances?
Jonathan Edwards, an American revivalist preacher, used every spiritual discipline possible to upend stagnant faith. That included prayer, consuming the Bible in any way possible, worship, solitude, journal keeping, fasting, and stewardship. He knew these disciplines kept the door open for the Holy Spirit to change him.
The enjoyment of Him is our highest happiness, and is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here: better than fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of any or all earthly friends. These are but shadows; but God is the substance. These are but scattered beams; but God is the sun. These are but streams; but God is the fountain. These are but drops; but God is the ocean – Jonathan Edwards.
So, what’s next for you? Are you ready to identify what in your life keeps spiritual growth at bay? God is always nearby and ready to help when you’re ready to go to the next level with Him. He’s waiting.