Spiritual Growth

My first book, Beyond Blind Faith, talks about many of the reasons why I believe Christianity is true and is unique among the world’s religions. My hope in writing it was that it would help lead people to Christ by removing some of the stumbling blocks to faith that I had encountered in my own faith journey.

My second book, Beyond Shallow Faith, had a different purpose. I wrote it to try to help Christians deepen their faith in God and in Christ. The first chapter of that book, entitled “Spiritual Growth,” talks about how we grow our faith. But spiritual growth doesn’t happen overnight. Here is an excerpt from Chapter 1 that talks about that:

[Spiritual growth] is a gradual process. Unlike salvation, which happens the instant we commit ourselves to Christ, spiritual growth takes time. Thus, Peter encouraged his readers to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 3:18) Paul told the Philippians that “He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6) He also said that “we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ.” (Ephesians 4:15) The author of Hebrews indicates that maturity is a matter of practice, the mature Christians being those who “because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.” (Hebrews 5:14) Other verses speak of the growth of our faith, our love, and our maturity.^[1]

I believe spiritual growth is similar to physical growth in one respect. When you were a child, you never had to tell yourself, “Today I will grow.” You needed good nutrition rather than determination. In the same way, if you give yourself the proper spiritual nourishment, you will grow spiritually.

Just to be clear, I am not talking about salvation. Paul and the author of Hebrews chided their readers for immaturity, but their salvation did not appear to be in question. They had simply failed to grow in their faith. Their poor spiritual diet had stunted their spiritual growth.

So what constitutes a good spiritual diet? It begins with Bible study. . . . 

You can read the beginning of Chapter 1 here, and you can find a description of Beyond Shallow Faith here. (Or click on Don’s Books, at the top of this page.) If you want to read the whole book, it is available on Amazon.com. (The e-book is only 99 cents.)

[1]. See, for example: 2 Corinthians 10:15; Colossians 2:7; 2 Thessalonians 1:3; Hebrews 6:1. Similarly, see 1 Peter 2:2, 2:5, and 2 Peter 1:8.