If you are like most Christians, you have wondered about your personal spiritual growth. Have you ever asked, “What is spiritual growth?” or “How do I grow spiritually?” Often, it is difficult to find the answers to these questions. In this article, I will show you the seven steps God wrote in our Bible that give us bold spiritual growth.
Not only will you discover the seven steps that assure your spiritual growth, but you will also learn how to do them. What you learn in this article will stop your wondering and put you on the path to boldly attaining spiritual growth. This will guarantee you will not be useless or unfruitful in the Kingdom of God.
His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 By these he has given us very great and precious promises, so that through them you may share in the divine nature, escaping the corruption that is in the world because of evil desire. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge, 6 knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with godliness, 7 godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 The person who lacks these things is blind and shortsighted and has forgotten the cleansing from his past sins. 10 Therefore, brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election, because if you do these things you will never stumble. 11 For in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you. (2 Peter 1:3-11 CSB)
The Rich Rewards of Spiritual Growth
Before we get into the seven steps for spiritual growth, let’s first recognize the rewards for attaining spiritual growth. Verse eight tells us spiritual growth will keep us from being useless and unfruitful in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Useless means idle or inactive. To be idle and inactive in our knowledge of Jesus is not to strive to be like Him and emulate Him in His actions and words. I am sure you agree with me on not wanting to be useless in the Kingdom of God.
We want to be useful in the Kingdom of God and to be fruitful. We want to work in the Kingdom of God, doing what Jesus has commanded us to do. The idea here is not possessing knowledge in our mind. Instead, it is having an intimate or working knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. For example, because my father was a trim carpenter, I have a knowledge of woodworking. Most of it is head knowledge and not working knowledge. An artisan has a working, intimate knowledge of woodworking. There is a big difference between an artisan and me when it comes to woodworking.
Do you see a person skilled in his work? He will stand in the presence of kings. He will not stand in the presence of the unknown. (Proverbs 22:29 CSB)
It is the same concept here. We are to be craftsmen in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is our duty to have a working knowledge of all that He has commanded us to do; skillful in our handling of the Word (see: 2 Timothy 2:15 and Hebrews 5:13-14).
Verses ten and eleven of Second Peter Chapter One go on to say, if we grow spiritually, we will not stumble and that our entry into the Kingdom of God will be richly provided for. Richly provided for means rewards. Spiritual growth provides for us to be useful and fruitful so that we may have many rewards in heaven. Therefore, spiritual growth provides everything I desire in the Kingdom of God.
Spiritual Growth Allows Us to Share in the Divine Nature
The rewards of spiritual growth are fantastic, but that isn’t the reason for growing up spiritually. It is for us to share in God’s divine nature. Let’s break this down into simple parts.
His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. (2 Peter 1:3 CSB)
We have been given everything we require for life and godliness. Yes, this is past tense. It happened at the moment we were born again.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come! 18 Everything is from God… (2 Corinthians 2:17-18a CSB Emphasis is mine.)
We were born again the moment the Holy Spirit entered our spirit. The Holy Spirit brought with Him divine power and the attributes of God, such as the fruit of the spirit. This divine power provided us with everything we require for life and godliness.
What does this verse mean, “…for life and godliness?” God has already provided for us everything we need to live our physical life here on earth, and to live it in a God pleasing way.
I am continually amazed by this every time I think about it. Everything I require is available to me.
Through the Knowledge of Him
How do we access everything we require for life and godliness? Our passage in 2 Peter goes on to say, “…through the knowledge of Him…” It is an important point that access to everything we require is through the knowledge of Him.
The more we know about God, His character, and attributes, the more we realize the depth of His love for us. It is this increasing knowledge of His love that apprehends how much He cares about our life on earth. This knowledge of His love also causes us to desire to be more like Him so we can please Him.
It is for this reason the Word of God should be a number one priority in our life.
Great and Precious Promises
We are called by God to be His children by His glory and goodness. It is for His glory we exist. Not for our own glory. The very intent of our life is to give Him glory. All that we think, do, and say is to be to the glory of God.
And it was out of His goodness that He called us to be His children. Because of God’s great mercy and grace, He gives us the ability to be called the children of God. It is also through this same glory and goodness we have been given great and precious promises.
His promises provide our complete salvation – spirit, soul, and body. This includes our safety, preservation, peace, prosperity, and health. Our promises included in the New Covenant are so much greater and precious than the promises under the Old Covenant.
How to Have Bold Spiritual Growth
All of this brings us to the purpose of this article: Spiritual Growth. There are seven steps to spiritual growth, as outlined in this passage. They are:
1. Goodness
2. Knowledge
3. Self-control
4. Endurance
5. Godliness
6. Brotherly affection
7. Love
Each of these steps are being added to our faith. Why is this? Because it was by grace (God’s glory and goodness), through faith that we are saved. (see Ephesians 2:8) Without faith, we could never have been saved and it is our salvation that starts this process.
Also, without faith, it is impossible to please God. (see Hebrews 11:6) The word used here is impossible, not hard, or difficult. Fortunately, God has given each believer a measure of faith. (see Romans 12:3)
Faith is the foundation upon which we build spiritual growth. We need faith to grow spiritually.
Do you want to learn more about faith? Here are some articles:
Faith As a Way of Life-Daily Living in God’s Grace
The Law of Faith Boldly Allows You to Live in the Fast Lane
Faith Begins Where the Will of God is Known
Notice that each step is being added to the previous one. This is because each step is the foundation upon which we build the next step. There is no skipping one step. Each of the steps requires the one preceding it.
If we try to skip a step, then we will stall in our spiritual growth. We will not be able to continue until we do that step.
Increasing Measure
Verse eight tells us the qualities that comprise each step to spiritual growth must be in increasing measure. In other words, this is a growth process that will last throughout our life on earth. It will never stop, but only continue to increase.
Now let’s look at each step individually so we can understand each one.
Goodness
Goodness means: excellence of character; excellence; virtue; moral goodness. It speaks of moral excellence as found in Philippians 4:8. “Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable—if there is any moral excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy—dwell on these things. (CSB translation. Emphasis is provided by the author.)
Moral excellence is the quality of doing right and avoiding what is wrong. Our standard of moral excellence is God. How He is morally excellent is how we are to be morally excellent.
We are to add to our faith goodness, and we know goodness refers to moral excellence. But as I was studying the Greek word translated “goodness” I found that they also translated it “praise.”
The apostle Peter used this same word when he penned, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises, of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:9 CSB Emphasis is provided by the author.)
The word praises in the above passage is the same Greek word translated goodness. I had to ask the Lord, “What does praising You have to do with goodness?” He replied, “The pinnacle of goodness, moral excellence, is giving credit where credit is due.”
That was when I realized what He meant. I can’t take credit for who I am and what I have accomplished. That credit goes to God, for it is His Spirit and power that is enabling me to change. I am giving God the glory for this each time I praise Him.
We express goodness in our outward actions and in our praise to God.
Knowledge
Once we have added goodness to our faith, then we are to add knowledge. What knowledge? Verse three tells us “The knowledge of Him.” Verse eight says the “knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
This is not any knowledge. This is specific knowledge of how He thinks, feels, talks, and acts. Jesus is one with the Father and He existed before the creation of the world. This means we find the knowledge of Him from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21.
So much comes through the knowledge of Him. The first four verses of Second Peter chapter one, tells us four different spiritual attributes that come through the knowledge of Him.
Therefore, knowledge of Him is important and we need to seek it daily in His Word.
Self-Control
Here is the spiritual power that is vital to a Christian’s spiritual walk. The Greek word used here comes from “kratos” the Greek word used for strength. Self-control is an inner strength. No matter how much natural self-control we have, we need the Holy Spirit’s power to bolster our self-control.
Self-control will keep us from angry outbursts. It will keep us from sin and temptation. This is the spiritual attribute that keeps us studying the Bible daily. Self-control fuels discipline. Without self-control, we can’t be disciplined in daily Bible study and prayer.
Self-control is also the foundation for endurance.
Endurance
Endurance or patience, depending on the translation you are using, is the inner fortitude to withstand tribulations, tests, and trials. When adversity strikes us, it is endurance that anchors us to persevere to the end.
Endurance is the backbone to our faith when we are believing God for His promises to come to pass. Faith without endurance is powerless. Without endurance, Christians give up before they see God’s plan come to fruition.
There is a terrorist angel called satan trying to block the promises of God in our life. Without endurance to cause us to persevere through the tribulation he brings, then the devil succeeds.
Godliness
According to Dictionary.com, godliness means the quality or practice of conforming to the laws and wishes of God. In practicality, godliness is living a fruitful and obedient life. When we live a godly life, we are living according to the laws and commandments of the Kingdom of God.
Godliness springs forth from the fear of the Lord. When we respect God, we will live a life that is pleasing to Him. It is more than the fear of sin. It is respect born from love.
We love God; therefore, we live to please Him.
Brotherly Affection
This is the love we have for our brothers and sisters in Christ. Jesus said we will be known by our love for one another. (see John 13:35) This love makes us stand out from all others. We are required to love all those that are in Christ.
The way we love, support, and help each other is our testimony to a world that is seeking true love.
Love
This is agape love, the God-kind of love. The King James Bible translated this as charity because it is a giving love that asks for nothing in return. We are to emulate God and love the world in this way.
It is a love that is so different from the world’s idea of love. This love gives whether or not you like the other person. It gives not seeking to receive anything. Agape love draws the world in to hear about Christ.
The Importance of Spiritual Growth
These seven steps to spiritual growth are vital to every believer. Second Peter 1:9 tells us that any Christian lacking them is blind and short-sighted and has forgotten their cleansing of past sins.
What does Peter mean by blind and short-sighted? He is saying that without these seven qualities, a Christian cannot see their future hope. They are just living for today, just like an unbeliever, and not able to temper their current life with the hope of the resurrection.
Because this Christian has lost sight of the hope of the resurrection, they have also forgotten God’s grace. Without the constant knowledge of God’s grace, there is no power for us to live the Christian walk.
Those that are building these seven attributes into their life are confirming their election and calling and will never stumble. In this way, their entry into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly rewarded.
There will be many crowns and rewards waiting for them in heaven that they will enjoy for eternity.
Bold Spiritual Growth
Bold spiritual growth happens daily. Each day we are to add to one of these qualities so that they are growing in increasing measure. It doesn’t end until we leave earth for heaven.
We are to be diligent in spiritual growth, striving to continuously increase in each one.
The Challenge
I challenge you to honestly assess your own spiritual growth. Are you developing these seven attributes? There is no reason to be ashamed of your personal spiritual maturity. No matter what level our spiritual maturity is, we can all improve.
All of us can increase our diligence in developing these seven spiritual attributes. Make a conscious effort to learn more about these seven attributes and how you need to develop them in your life.
It is time for us to be bold in our spiritual growth. Time is short and Jesus needs mature Christians to do the ministry of reconciliation. (see 2 Corinthians 5:18-20)
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