Aug 02 2016 How much have you grown?
When my kids were young, they wanted to be taller than they were at the time. So we started marking their progress in the doorframe of our home. They would often want to measure everyday. The progress was slow, but progress was made.
One of my acquaintances experienced the same situation with his children. Upon returning home from a short trip, he was greeted by his daughter who quickly exclaimed, “Daddy, measure me and see how much I’ve grown!”
Let me ask you, as a follower of Jesus, how much have you “grown?” If you are not growing as a follower of Jesus, you are dying.
II Peter 3:18 states, “but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” The verse can be stated this way as well, “grow and keep on growing.”
SO, ARE YOU GROWING?
Once you accept Jesus into your life, then what?
What is the goal of the Christian life? Is it to get your ticket punched so you can go to heaven or does God have more in mind?
THE GOAL = TO BECOME LIKE JESUS
“For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”
Romans 8:29
So how do I progress towards getting closer to the goal?
THINK ABOUT THESE THOUGHTS:
To accept Jesus into your life implies you are committing to following Jesus!
To follow Jesus means you are committing to obey Jesus.
To obey Jesus means you will have to become familiar with the manual of operation (The Bible).
There is no way to grow as a follower of Jesus apart from knowing and obeying the Bible. Its great to hear good teaching and preaching at Church or online, but that is no substitute for opening your Bible and digging in.
Unfortunately many followers of Jesus aren’t following Jesus. You are no threat to the enemy (the devil and yes I believe there is a real character called the devil), unless you are reading and studying The Bible and doing what it says!
When you spend time in The Bible, you are spending time with The Lord. The more time you spend with Him, the more you will become like Him. The converse is true…less time spent with Him, the less you will become like Him.
Studies have been done that reveal that:
Over 95% of an athletes time is spent training and less than 5% competing
So
If you want to compete (become like Jesus and impact others), you have to train!!!
There are 5 months until the end of 2016. It’s not too late to get moving and training!
A C T I O N S T E P S:
- Read The Gospel of John (just a few verses a day or 15 minutes a day)
- Ask yourself these questions
- What did I learn about God?
- What did I learn about Jesus?
- What does what I’ve read say to do?
- What will I do?
- When will I do it?
- Write down what you discover!
If you can do these action steps, you will have grown!